So Cold
by Runawaybaby555
Summary: Now that it is well known knowledge among the girls that Alison is alive, the question is HOW and WHY. But on their quest to figure out the truth, Aria, Hanna, Spencer, and Emily find out more about Ezra, about the A team, about Alison's disappearance, and most importantly about themselves, than they ever wanted to know. My take on 4B, enjoy and REVIEW!
1. Chapter 1

**Hello, all! Well, you guessed it: I'm back AGAIN, with ANOTHER story that I sincerely hope you all enjoy! This story will take place at about where the Halloween episode left off, only you need to know two things before you begin: Hanna and Caleb broke up officially when he left for Ravenswood, and Aria and Jake are still together in the beginning (I know we all hate him, but seriously bare with me!) But I'm warning you right here and right now: this story is very dark. It's quite possibly the darkest story I've ever written (seriously, though, guys, ShadowsOnTheMoon is probably giddy with excitement right now). But I had so much fun writing it and put a lot of work into it, so I really hope you all have as much fun reading it (and shed as many TEARS while reading it... nothing personal) as I had writing it. That's about all I have to say for now, so here's your first chapter! It's a little slow at first, but starting next chapter things _will_ pick up! Once again, enjoy!**

* * *

_Oh, you can't hear me cry_  
_See my dreams all die_  
_From where you're standing_  
_On your own._  
_It's so quiet here_  
_And I feel so cold_  
_This house no longer_  
_Feels like home._

* * *

Alison raced down the moonlit path, leaves crunching under her feet and branches snapping in her face. At every shadow she jumped, only to realize it was just the moon beams stretching over the trees, so she kept on trudging.

Time was running out. She knew she shouldn't have told the girls. She knew she was taking a risk. But it was too late to have regrets.

It was too late to long to take back everything she had done wrong in her life. Not while _he_ was on her tail.

Feeling her heartbeat quicken, Alison only ran faster, her red coat billowing behind her. As she continued to run, she realized she didn't even have a destination in mind. She didn't know what she was doing, where she was going...

All she knew was that she had to run. Far, far away.

_Could this be the end?_ she thought to herself as she dodged a twig from above her. _Have I really done it now? Is everything finally going to catch up to me?_

_After 2 years, could this really be it?_

Alison finally stopped running, reaching out to steady herself on the nearest tree stump as her breathing became heavier, her heartbeat became less levied. She had to pace herself. She couldn't keep blindly running through the dark when she hardly knew if the person she was running from was even running after her.

Speak of the devil...

She heard a snap, and her senses sparked to life.

He was here.

Ignoring the feeling that her lungs were going to burst out of her chest, Alison's adrenaline kicked in and she darted through the woods, blood staining her jacket as branches and thorns scratched at her skin.

It wasn't like it mattered anyway. They were all the same color.

She ran and ran and ran until she couldn't run anymore. She was out of sight, out of mind.

She kept telling herself that she was no longer in danger, that she was so far away that she knew she was safe. No one could get to her.

Not even the person who was still chasing after her, still searching for her. Not even the person whose baby blue eyes were currently bulging from his sockets in a mangled fury at the realization that she had escaped. Not even the person whose chiseled jawline was tense in anger at not reaching her, whose fists were clenched in defeat, whose legs were shaking with longing to kick something, anything.

Not even Ezra.

* * *

Hanna sighed as she plopped back onto her bed, back first. Her eyes were closed and her room was quiet, but her mind was loud. Very loud.

Alison was alive.

Alison, her best friend in the world, yet her worst enemy in the world, had been alive for the past two years and neither of her friends had known.

She was alive, and she was here.

Yet she was gone. She had left as soon as she had come.

Just like Caleb had left as soon as he had come.

_Don't think about that,_ Hanna thought hastily, wiping her not-so-dry eyes with the back of her pajama sleeve. If there was one thing she was glad for, it was getting out of that horrid costume. _You have to distract yourself until he gets back!_

Hanna sniffled as she sat up again, looking around her room for something, anything, that might keep her brain at bay. On her desk was a pile of already-read fashion magazines, and near her closet door was her backpack that held her history homework - as if she could _ever_ focus on homework right now. Nothing looked appealing to her.

Until she saw it.

Poking out of the outermost pocket of her bag, catching her eye with it's shimmering texture, was something she had picked up earlier in the evening.

A's diary.

Feeling uncomfortable, yet oddly determined, Hanna arose from her bedspread. Part of her knew this was a bad idea - Spencer could hardly handle this whole mystery on 7 cups of coffee, and Hanna figured she could delve into it without even being on 1? - but another part of her was bursting at the seams, begging to know more. Alison had come back for a reason: chances were that there was something that she wanted the girls to know about. Something that was right in front of them, but just barely out of their reach.

Something that Hanna knew about, even if she didn't know that she knew.

Something Alison had _told_ Hanna.

* * *

_"What happened to you when you left the barn?" Hanna muttered sleepily, Alison's blurred outline still in the center of her weak vision. "We all want to know."_

_Alison just stood there, straight as a pencil in her pinstriped hospital apron, flashing her notorious smirk over the edge of Hanna's cot. "You already do," she whispered cryptically, hands locked behind her back and she shifted her weight to the front of her feet. "The four of you combined... you know more about that night than you think you do."_

* * *

Hanna blinked, startled. Where had _that_ come from? She hadn't thought about that... exchange... in forever. She last remembered it being a hallucination - she was under 9 different types of medication from breaking her leg - but she guessed that it wasn't really as much of a dream as she thought it was.

The exchange was real.

* * *

_"Please," Hanna begged tiredly, eyes struggling to stay open as they filled with tears. Tears filled with exhaustion, but also filled with desperation and sadness. "Please just tell me the truth."_

_Suddenly, Alison did something that Hanna had rarely ever seen her do before._

_She stopped smiling._

_"It won't make any difference, darling," she said seriously, and if Hanna listened closely she could hear a slight quiver to her tone. Hanna cocked her head to the side, confused, but this only made Alison more upset._

_"You think the truth is some big, shiny disco ball of purity?" Alison challenged, her features hardening, her voice increasing in volume. "Then go ahead and try it. Be honest. See where it gets you."_

_Hanna felt herself sinking further into her pillow as words left her. Alison had completely rendered her speechless. But she just kept going._

_"Telling the truth to the wrong person at the wrong time is how I ended up where I am," she continued, recounting from experience as an inscrutable expression clouded her countenance. "Take it from me... you're always better off with a _really_ good lie."_

* * *

Looking back, Hanna remembered seeing something off about Ali. Her makeup was the same, as was her hair, snark, and condescending demeanor. At the time, Hanna was unable to pinpoint what was wrong with Ali, but now she could tell.

She remembered seeing something in her eyes. Remorse. Longing. Darkness.

As Hanna closed her eyes, thinking even harder, they suddenly popped open as she remembered the last thing she saw in Alison's eyes before she had snuck out of the doorway, never to be seen for another year.

Fear.

The same fear that they had all seen in her eyes earlier this evening.

Alison was scared, and had been scared this entire time, which was why she couldn't come back. Hanna didn't know why she was scared, or who she was scared of, but she at least had that.

And she was ready to find out more.

Rushing over to her bag, Hanna fished out the diary, flipping it open to the first page.

Might as well start at the beginning.

* * *

**Let me know what you think in the reviews! Also, if you're new to reviewing one of my stories, just beware that I will pester you a LOT to review/follow/favorite/WHATEVER because I'm a greedy little wench, but also know that it's all out of love and that I thoroughly appreciate you reviewing my story XD but on that note, REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello there, ladies and gents! Thank you all for the fabulous response to the first chapter, and it's so nice to see some familiar faces from EOTHBA and some of my other stories (but mainly that one because take it from me all of the others are not good). And since I have some time, I can respond to your reviews!**

**ShadowsOnTheMoon: *drifts out of different shadows* Indeed I did :P and I can tell you honestly that I can put a check mark to majory to nearly all of what you just asked, and you will cry. If ****_I_**** cried while writing it, you're going to cry while reading it. And I will wait a while before claiming the Crown of Dark Fics or whatever it's called, but I want to know what you think after you finish reading ;) thanks for being wonderful as always, little Hufflepuff!  
eveningshades1107: Wow, well, the pressure is on! You clearly have a lot of expectations that I need to deliver to, and now I'm nervous *bites fingernails in anticipation* But I'm glad you're liking it so far, and I promise it gets better even!  
Ava B: You're BACK! Good to see you again, and thank you for your review! I hope you like the rest of it, too! :)  
Didi: Your review made me smile so hard :D yes, since this story is as dark as it is, you can already infer that Ezra isn't a good guy, but I think you'll find that he's not the baddest of the bad (and with that face, he really can't be). What he is is conflicted, and you'll see more of that as the story goes on, and even some of that in this chapter! One thing you need to remember is that never, in any point in the story, is Ezra totally 100% on one side :) and oh yeah, Aria is going to be really angry. She toggles between sadness and anger, but mostly anger. I feel like that'd be more in character for her anyway, and it's way more fun to read. Thank you for the review, and hope to see you again on here!  
Siiimply-jen: Well, unfortunately Caleb is not in this story, and it breaks my heart to have to do such a thing, but there are other characters that I'm sure you'll love just as much :) and I'm so happy you loved EOTHBA! It's my pride and joy, absolutely my favorite story to write. Thanks for reading and reviewing!**

**And now I won't keep you all any longer, for it's time for the current chapter! Enjoy, and as always, REVIEW!**

* * *

"You tried everything?"

"Everything, I promise!" Spencer whined into her cellphone, pulling her lime green peacoat closer across her narrow torso as a gust of wind whooshed by. She was currently standing outside of the Apple Rose Grill, out to dinner with Toby, but she had excused herself to take a phone call from Aria, who was asking for an update on Hanna.

It was a couple of days later, and the girls had had some time to cool off about the situation in Ravenswood, as well as in front of Alison's barn. Instead of talking about it nonstop, like they usually did when it came to handling A and everything else in that part of their lives, they were taking a different approach: avoiding it. The subject of Alison being alive never came up in conversation, and when it _did_ the subject would change within a matter of seconds, whether with a dirty look or a simple non sequitur.

A always seemed to pop up when the girls were at their peak, but if they delved into school and everything that they'd been putting on the backburner for the past two years, maybe A would leave them alone.

Aria sighed, slumping into her desk chair in exasperation. "Yeah, me too. Poor Hanna."

"Did you try force feeding her Chinese food?"

"_Yes_," Aria scoffed, "until she nearly threw the box of sichuan beef across the room because _apparently_ she and carbs aren't friends anymore."

Spencer rolled her eyes at this. _If Hanna used her persistence toward dieting on _school_, she'd make straight A's no sweat._ "C'mon, she has to get over it at some point. How long did it take you to get over your break up with Ezra?"

"Which one?" Aria said bitterly, reminiscing over everything she and her ex-boyfriend had been through. "There were too many to count."

Spencer thought about what Aria was saying, quickly realizing, with awe, that she was right. "God, I'm so sorry."

"What's to be sorry about?" Aria said halfheartedly. "We were stupid, but now we've both moved on." As she said this, her eyes wandered over to her bedside table. She hadn't bothered taking down the picture of her and Ezra on it. She supposed now would be a good time to replace it with a picture of her and Jake, yet she couldn't find it in her to take that one down.

She was beginning to realize how questionable her claim of "moving on" was, but she hastily pushed these thoughts aside.

"I suppose," Spencer said thoughtfully on the other end. "So who gets the honor of checking up on her next?"

"Emily has swim practice," Aria pointed out. "She probably can go to Hanna's on the way back."

"If not, I can just go over there in an hour or so," Spencer offered. "I'll be on my way back from Apple Rose Grill anyway."

Aria cracked a small, devious smile upon hearing this, her eyebrows nearly touching the ceiling. "Do I detect you going on a _date?_"

Before Spencer could answer, Aria heard muffled sounds in the background. It took a minute, but finally Aria determined that it was the sound of someone honking their horn; street traffic. The kind of street traffic you heard outside of a restaurant...

Aria shot out of her repose. "Oh my god, you're already _on_ it, aren't you!?"

"Maybe," Spencer said ambiguously, before cackling happily. Aria joined in on her laughter, pleased that at least one of her friends could be happy with their love life right now.

"We haven't been on a date in so _long_," Spencer went on. "It feels good."

"What does?"

"Getting back to what we once were," Spencer said dreamily. "We were on the rocks for a while after everything that happened with his mom, but I think he's finally over that."

Aria chewed on her lip at this. Although she didn't want to admit this to Spencer, she was weary about Toby. After everything he had put Spencer through, and technically was _still_ putting her through after his disappearing act on the night of the Hoe Down, it was unlike Spencer to just keep going back to him. But Aria could tell, from experience especially, that this only meant that Spencer was deeply in love with him, and Aria didn't want to get in the way of that. She could only make a promise to herself that she would _not_ do the same thing if she was ever in Spencer's position.

"I'm glad to hear that," she finally said cheerfully. "_And_ I certainly won't keep you any longer. Have a great time, Spence!"

Spencer said her thanks before hanging up, and Aria then got up from her desk chair and trudged over to her bedside table. She picked up the picture of her and Ezra, running her fingers along the edge of the smooth mahogany frame as she brought it back to her seat.

She remembered the day it was taken vividly. It was at the beginning of the year, back near the end of September. He was still struggling for work, but Maggie and Malcolm had not yet entered their lives and his mother hadn't bribed Aria to break up with him yet. Add that into the fact that they no longer had to keep their relationship a secret, and Aria would conclude that they were the happiest they'd ever been.

It had been the beginning of fall, when the weather was just getting cold and the leaves were just changing color, so the two had gone apple picking. She remembered having a great time; all of the good apples were on the top branches, so she would have to get on his shoulders to reach them, and they shared many laughs trying to achieve this without falling over. In the picture, she was holding up a ripe, red apple in her two cupped hands as she smiled into the camera, while Ezra was planting a loving kiss on her cheek.

The kiss in the picture reminded her a lot of the kiss they shared the other day. It had been brief, but memorable, mainly because of everything leading up to the kiss... the talk about poetry, writing, everything they were both interested in.

Everything that reminded her of why she had fallen in love with him in the first place.

Without much thought, Aria slammed the frame frustratedly down on the surface of the desk. _Screw it, I'm calling him_, she finally thought to herself, whipping her phone out of her pocket faster than lightning. She knew the last thing she should be doing was calling Ezra; she should've just deleted his number from her phone when she had the chance. If Jake found out, he would...

Well, now that she thought about it, she wasn't too sure he'd do anything. Jake was one of the sweetest, most understanding guys she'd ever been with, and she always had such a great time with him whenever they were together.

But she would never love him. Simply because he wasn't who she wanted him to be.

He wasn't Ezra.

Aria's fingers hovered over the speed dial button for Ezra's number as she tried to work out a list of excuses in her head. Just because they were broken up didn't mean they couldn't be _friends._ And after everything that he had been through with Malcolm, he would need someone by his side. He would need her... wouldn't he?

_I'll just call to check up on things and make sure he's okay,_ she said internally as she hastily dialed his number and pressed the phone to her ear.

It rang once. It rang twice. It rang three times. Aria could feel her heart pounding against her chest, begging to be set free. This was it. She couldn't wait to hear his sweet, soothing voice, could wait to hear the uptick it had whenever he simply said "Hello?". She couldn't wait...

"_Hi, you've reached Ezra. I can't get to the - _"

Aria didn't even wait for it to finish. She slammed the _End Call_ button and threw her phone onto the bed as she dramatically leaned back into her chair, letting out a shaky breath as she willed herself not to cry.

Maybe he didn't need her after all.

* * *

Ezra shuffled down the street, keeping his chin tucked into his chest as he wrapped his black hoodie tighter around his gangly frame, trying to block out the cold air. He had seen her. He _knew_ he had.

Ezra knew that there were a million other things that he should be doing at this moment. For one, he should be watching the girls since no one else could do the job due to being booked with school stuff. Hell, he should even be grading _papers_, if anything! But once he had caught sight of her, everything else in his life was put on hold. She was his number one priority, and he had to find her.

He rounded a corner, his hands tucked into his pockets as he did so. He was right across the street from the Apple Rose Grill, and was just about to cross the street when something caught his eye, and he immediately cowered behind a pillar to avoid getting caught.

Right outside of the restaurant, splitting a grilled cheese sandwich, was Spencer and Toby. Spencer was laughing as she took a napkin and dabbed a few crumbs on the corners of Toby's lips, while Toby just smiled, admiring what a dork his girlfriend was. Ezra just rolled his eyes. _Cheeky little bastard_, he thought to himself.

But then something _else_ - _someone_ else - caught his eye, and he was attentive once again.

It was her. It was really her. Ezra couldn't believe it.

With a shaking hand, Ezra reached into his pocket, retrieving something long, sharp, and silver.

A pocket knife.

He had to be careful now. Wait for the perfect moment. Wait until she ran off, far away. Then he would follow her. Then he would...

Suddenly, Ezra jumped two feet in the air, jolted to life by something vibrating in his jacket pocket.

"Shit!" he whispered, digging his hand through the hoodie until he retrieved his phone, but when he looked up again, she was gone. He hadn't even caught a glimpse of where she went.

_Dammit,_ he thought angrily, kicking the nearest wall in fury as he pressed the home screen. _Whoever is calling is going to..._

He never even got a chance to finish that thought, for his mind went blank the minute he saw the caller.

Four simple letters glared across his screen. Four simple letters that made his heart stop.

_Aria._

Ezra froze, each of his limbs going numb. He couldn't even remember the last time Aria had called him. Why was she calling now?

But then again, why did he care?

His phone kept buzzing, but he couldn't find it in him to answer. He couldn't even find it in him to press _Ignore_! All he could do was stare at the screen in awe, wondering when his lungs would work again and his breathing would return to normal.

Even when the screen went black, even when he got clarification from the _One Missed Call _banner flashing across the screen that she was gone, Ezra was still rendered speechless.

* * *

**Oh Ezria. So young, so naive. Will Ezra call her back? Or will he ignore her like the cold, heartless, driven person he is? And does the A team know about his conflicted feelings? And if they find out, what will they do to him? Sound off in the reviews!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello, all! Nice job reviewing last chapter, I got a whole SLEW of them! Unfortunately, this weekend is kind of hellacious and I've got a lot going on, so I don't have a lot of time to review all of them (as much as I want to because I love talking to you guys!) But just know how much I think you guys rock, and thank you again for reading this story!**

**Now, in this next chapter, there is a flashback in the beginning, and you'll see those from time to time. There's no chronology to it, but it does illustrate different events from Ezra's perspective, as well as other members of the A team, that explain how they did everything, and tie a little bit more into Ezra's character and how he's feeling throughout all of this.**

**And without further ado, here is the next chapter! Enjoy, and REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!**

* * *

_"Can I get a cheeseburger?"_

_Ezra looked up, his calculating thoughts interrupted by a sweet voice to the left of him, speaking to the bartender. When he looked over, he was entranced; she was a very pretty girl, one of the prettiest he'd ever come across. Black hair. Hazel eyes. Fair skin. Prominent eyebrows._

_She had an exotic, unforgettable look to her. So unforgettable that Ezra knew that she was the one._

_He reached into the pocket of his jeans stealthily, retrieving the picture he had gotten a hold of. He kept it concealed underneath the table as he surveyed it. Five girls, one of which was sitting right beside him._

_One of which had the same unforgettable looks. Unmistakable looks. She looked the same, only her hair was straight and black now, sans any of the pink streaks that she had in the picture._

_Yeah. This was it. She was the one._

_He looked up, noticing her back was to him; her eyes were on the bulletin board on the far wall. On it was a poster: _"Have you seen this girl?"

_He had seen the posters everywhere, and he didn't need to look at her picture once more. He had already memorized her face the way he had memorized the first 20 digits of pi in 6th grade. It wasn't something he could forget._

_Yet at the same time, he found himself staring at that poster as if it were the first time, staring at how perfectly placed her button nose was above her perfectly plump lips, staring at how, even in that one picture, she was looking straight through him, as if she knew all of his secrets._

_It was about time he found out all of hers._

_It was about time he found out all about Alison DiLaurentis._

_He cleared his throat. Showtime._

_"You alright down there?"_

* * *

"I'm telling you, this new contractor is _great!_ He's willing to pay me almost double what the first guy was paying!"

"That's great, babe," Spencer said cheerfully as she dabbed the corner of her sandwich half into a puddle of ketchup on the side of her plate. However, her words didn't come out as cheerful as she wanted them to; instead, she sounded rather absentminded, and it didn't help that her entire sandwich was now unnecessarily doused in ketchup after dipping it in so many times.

Toby took note of this and eyed her warily. "Spence, is everything okay..."

"What?" Spencer blinked rapidly, bringing her mind back into focus. She was out to dinner with her amazing boyfriend and she couldn't find it in her to even pay attention? What was wrong with her?

"I said are you okay?" Toby repeated, his tone transmitting from one of suspicion to one of worry.

Spencer averted her eyes downward as color crept up to her cheeks, but as she looked down she spotted the dramatic change in color of her skin; the ketchup from her grilled cheese had dripped all the way down her hand. Spencer gasped. How out of it _was_ she?

With the temperature of her face rising even more, Spencer hastily grabbed a napkin from the center of the table, wiping her hands down. "Yeah..." she said half-heartedly. "I'm fine. Umm... tell me more about this new job of yours."

Toby just kept looking at her with concern eminent in his crystal blue eyes, but finally continued to describe his new carpentry job. Spencer tried her hardest to listen, and she really was curious about what was going on in Toby's life, but she had way too much on her mind to pay close enough attention. She knew that she and the girls had pledged not to talk about what happened the other night, but she couldn't just _not_ think about it.

So much had happened. _Too_ much had happened. For one, Alison was alive. That was the one thing, out of the _many_ things, that brought the most questions. Where had she been hiding? Whose _body_ did they bury at the 700 funerals they had to attend for her?

But perhaps the biggest question Spencer had was… why did Alison look so _scared?_

That led her to the second thing on her mind: Mrs. Grunwald had said that the one person Alison feared the most had touched Aria, Spencer, or Emily. If "touched" meant what she thought it did, then she was suddenly more suspicious than she should be of the person in front of her.

Could Alison be scared of Toby?

Before, Spencer would've considered it silly to be suspicious of her Labrador of a boyfriend, but – as much as she hated to admit it – ever since he pulled that stunt on the A-team, she was having trouble trusting him. But she missed him so much, and was deathly afraid that the minute she so much as hinted that she had a problem with him doing something like that to her, he would leave.

And Toby meant too much to her for her to let him slip away again.

"Spencer, you're spacing out again," Toby said, breaking Spencer out of her trance. When she looked up again, Toby had his brow furrowed in concern.

Spencer ducked her head into her chest. "I'm sorry, Toby."

Toby studied Spencer for a moment, wondering what his next move should be, before reaching across the table and grasping her hand.

"Whatever it is," he began lovingly, "you know you can tell me, right?"

Finally, Spencer looked up. Toby's sky blue orbs were so filled with love that she wanted to nearly cry at the sight. She hated keeping secrets from him, especially since the last time she kept a secret, it indirectly led her toward shuffling around Radley Sanitarium in a pair of fluffy slippers while playing cards with the schizophrenics.

But she couldn't tell him. She figured it was just because Alison didn't want anyone to know, but there was a sinking feeling in the pit of Spencer's stomach that told her it could be something else.

Pushing her thoughts to the side, Spencer smiled at Toby as she squeezed his hand back. "Yeah, I do," she lied softly. "It's nothing, though. I'm just wigging out about this history test I have on Monday."

Toby's eyes bulged out of his sockets. "You have a history test? Then why are you out with me?!"

Spencer shrugged. "I know the material well enough," she said simply. "And besides, going out to dinner with you is _way_ better than reading Lincoln's 2nd Inaugural Address!"

Toby's eyes finally returned to a normal size, before crinkling lightly as he broke out into a smile. He leaned across the table, planting a kiss on Spencer's lips.

"What was that for?" she asked as he pulled away. He just continued to smile coyly as he lightly poked her nose.

"That," he began, "is for you being the greatest girlfriend ever."

Spencer sighed dreamily as she leaned back in her chair. She had somehow forgotten how wonderful that word sounded when it applied to her. _Girlfriend._

"But seriously," Toby said cautiously, "if you're distracted by this test, we can always reschedule."

"But I'm having such a good time!" Spencer whined. "And we're almost finished with dinner anyway. Speaking of which..."

She reached up, napkin in hand, to gently dab at the corners of Toby's mouth where a mound of crumbs lay. Toby giggled as he tried to brush her off, but Spencer kept reaching until she finally had wiped off all of the crumbs. The affair ended in the two leaning back in their chairs in a fit of laughter, and Spencer realized that she could hardly have been happier at the moment.

"Alright," she said breathlessly as she took a sip of lemonade by her side. "Now that that's over, how do you want to split the bill?"

Toby put one hand up in refusal and the other hand in his pocket for his wallet. "I've got it, relax," he said. Being the gentleman that he was, Toby never allowed Spencer to pay a cent when they did things like this. However, that didn't always work on a feminist like Spencer.

"C'mon Toby, at least let me pay half."

"Not a chance," he chuckled.

Spencer was about to argue that she should at least be allowed to pay the tip, but before she could say a word, something caught her eye.

Toby watched as Spencer's face drained of color, and suddenly felt bad. "Spencer, if it means that much to you, I'll let you – "

But Spencer wasn't listening. Her eyes were drawn to something specific. _Someone_ specific.

There. Right there on the corner of the street. Hood down, hair flowing out from underneath it. A tall, slim frame decked out head to toe in blood red.

"Ali," she whispered, completely forgetting Toby's presence as she said it. Completely forgetting about the promise she had made to the girls that she wouldn't dig any deeper into it. Completely forgetting everything.

In that moment, nothing mattered.

Without giving it a second thought, Spencer leapt up from the table, accelerating rapidly as she weaved through the tables, ignoring the mangled squeals from disturbed customers. Only stopping once to utter an apology to a man whose glass of iced tea she had knocked over, Spencer darted forward again.

Of course, the girl had seen Spencer running toward her and had raced off in the other direction, but Spencer was far from deterred. This only made her want to run more quickly. But as not to make a scene, she reduced her speed to a fast walk as she paced up the sidewalk, keeping her eyes on the hooded frame in front of her.

"Spencer!" she heard from behind her. "Spencer!"

Great. Toby was following her. Once the girl ahead of her heard the shouts, she started going faster. As a result, Spencer started going faster, but now she started darting her eyes in different directions, making sure no one was staring.

That all changed when the girl rounded a corner.

Once she caught her last sight of the billowing red coat, Spencer stopped caring about bystanders. She sped into a running speed, nearly tripping on her own two feet as she skidded to a halt to round the corner herself. The girl in the red coat kept running, not even slowing down to take a breath, so Spencer kept running after her. With a good mix of adrenaline and practice from all of the suicides she would have to do for field hockey, Spencer was able to run at a decent speed. But she knew the girl before her had that same good mix, and every time she heard Spencer inching closer, she would inch further away.

This kept going until they reached the forest.

The girl ran into the woods, but suddenly stopped. When Spencer saw that she was no longer moving, she sped up even more, ignoring the gasp of air that her lungs desperately needed.

Finally, Spencer reached her, and this time she didn't even hesitate. She reached out, spinning the girl 180 degrees until she was facing her.

Just as she thought, a pair of dazzling blue eyes and perfectly plump lips were before her.

Alison was standing before her, out of breath and looking just as scared as she did the other night.

"Ali," Spencer breathed, but Alison was not having it.

"Spencer, not now," she growled, but there was something different about the way she said it. She looked distant, and Spencer realized that this was because she wasn't even looking directly at her; she was looking over Spencer's shoulder.

Before Spencer could say anything, Alison started to run off, but Spencer wouldn't let her. She reached forward to grab Alison's arm, pulling her toward her once more.

"I'm not playing games, Ali," she hissed. "You wouldn't have shown your face over at the Grill if you didn't have something to say, so you better tell me what the _fuck_ is going on right now."

Alison opened her mouth to answer, but closed it as soon as she heard a twig snap in the distance. Without a word, Alison slipped her arm out of Spencer's grip and ran off, while Spencer stood back, too stunned to follow.

She stood there, completely glued to her spot on the mulch, for about a minute and a half, until she felt two hands on her shoulders from behind. Startled, she whipped around, but relaxed as soon as she saw that it was Toby.

Spencer gasped as she inserted herself into Toby's strong arms, willing herself not to cry, while Toby just held her, shocked and confused.

"What the hell just happened?" he asked her, but Spencer just shook her head as she buried her face further into his chest.

Ignoring this was going to be a lot harder than she thought.

* * *

**Of course Spencer would be the first to break the pact of avoiding anything related to A. She has to delve into it, it's in her nature! And why does Alison look so scared? Is she afraid of Toby the way Spencer speculates, or is it something else? (Something else. Always something - or someone- else.)**

** Alright, so you got Spoby this chapter, who wants to take a guess at what you're going to get next chapter? Hint: It's another ship having to do with Spencer ;) sound off in the reviews with your guesses!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry for disappearing on you all! When they said this was the most wonderful time of the year, they really meant it's the BUSIEST time of the year. I'm running all over the place! After I update this, I'm gonna be on my way someplace else! But I wanted to squeeze this chapter in for y'all, so hopefully you like it! But luckily, I do have time to (attempt to) reply to you all briefly:**

**Didi: HAHA, indeed she will. Aria gets her badass on in this story, so I'm excited for you all to read into it! And really, it's nearly impossible to write Ezra COMPLETELY dark... he's too adorable! And I miss Caleb more than words, he's one of my favorite characters to write for, but he didn't make it ;( thanks for the review!  
prettylittleliars39464: Thank you! And yes, they're all considerate of each other. They ARE the OT4, after all ;)  
eveningshades1107: You and bullet points are my OTP, gotta say. And YES! The Sparia shower bit! I was hoping someone would catch onto that! And hey now, don't give up on hope completely. Ezria might not be a lie! Or at least not all of it... You won't know for sure until one of them says it out loud. And DUH I read that article! Didn't like it that much because it was written by someone other than Heather Hogan, but I still read it because it had to do with PLL!  
Ava B: Aww, you're too kind XD you will see more of Evil Ezra, Alison, _and_ Sparia to come, so that should mean good things for you!  
S S Ezria: Thank you so much! I hope you like it even more as it goes on! :)  
NewEnglandMuggleGirl: Glad you like Spoby, and I think he should call her back too! Silly EzrA :P  
Bagilia: Hallo, love! Glad to see you on here, and reading a story without HALEB in it! I'm so proud XD Glad you're liking it so far, and seriously, feel better *Slytherin hugs*  
missdallywinston: Thank you so much! :)  
stop standing still: Thank you! Glad you're liking it!  
Guest: Thanks!  
Siiimply-jen: Don't worry about it being short! I appreciate it all the same :) thank you!  
Arcawolf: Wow, talk about a first impression ;) thank you, and hopefully I can live up to your expectation! And that story is my pride and joy, so I'm happy you liked it!  
ShadowsOnTheMoon: Talk about saving the best for last (Get it? Heh heh... my humor is misunderstood). I have to say, you did scare me for a second with your little fakeout, so I'm relieved it's not real. And can this final poll be a thing? It's on, little Hufflepuff XD wow, so I guess this is a modern day version of a Quiddich tournament. Hufflepuff vs. Slytherin. Yeah, I feel like that's what Spoby is now, and I tried to make that clear when I wrote them. They're cute, but there is a very clear absence of trust there. Thanks again for being such a fabulous reviewer, and I'll have to check out that Vegemite song!**

**PS: Clearly none of you know me ****_at all_**** because only ****_two_**** of you got the Spencer ship for this chapter right! ShadowsOnTheMoon and Ava B, pat yourself on the back. Everyone else, excluding any new readers, 50 points from all houses except for Hufflepuff. ****_Anyway_****, I present to you the next chapter, which includes... SPARIA!**

* * *

"Spencer, is there a reason you're dragging me out here at 8 in the morning on a Saturday?"

"If you're that tired, you should've just drunk the cup of coffee I made you!" Spencer said as she put on her turn signal, quickly glancing over at Aria, who was in the passenger seat, rubbing her puffy eyes as she tried not to fall asleep.

Aria glared at Spencer out of the corners of her doe eyes, which were not as bright and big as usual now that they were free of makeup and marked by bags under them, as she leaned up against the window. "Yeah right," she said sarcastically. "You know how I feel about your coffee! I had one sip, and I already started shaking."

"It's only because you're so damn tiny," Spencer pointed out, rolling her eyes as she put the car in park. Both she and Aria unbuckled their seat belts as they exited the car.

"Untrue!" Aria said defensively as she slammed the car door shut before tucking her hands further into the sleeves of her sweatshirt to protect herself from the chilly January air. "Hanna and Emily will argue the same thing."

"Well you can either feel lethargic or like you're on acid," Spencer said with an indifferent shrug. "Pick your poison."

Aria just huffed, her breath completely visible in the cold morning air, as she took long strides to try to keep up with Spencer. "I still don't understand what this is all about."

"Aria, I already told you."

"No, you didn't!" Aria exclaimed exasperatedly. "You charged into my house before the sun even came up, _dragged_ me out of bed, threw some sweats at me to put on, and then shoved a granola bar in my mouth to stop me from asking questions. _No where _in the middle of all of that was there an explanation for what we're doing or where we're going_._"

"... Oh..." Spencer said softly, chewing on her bottom lip. "I guess I... forgot?"

From behind, Spencer heard the leaves cease crunching under Aria's shoes, meaning she had stopped walking. In response, Spencer turned around to face her.

"Look," Spencer began, apologetically tucking a brunette piece of hair behind her ear, "I'm sorry for dragging you into this. I'd have gotten the other girls in on it, too, but Emily has a swim meet and Hanna probably exhausted herself last night crying over Caleb, so _she_ won't be up until - "

"Spencer, I don't mind doing this," Aria interrupted, genuinity clear in her tone as she shook her head slightly, her raven locks whipping across her face in the process. "I just want to know _why_."

Spencer sighed, walking over to her petite friend. She supposed she couldn't avoid this much longer.

"Last night," she began quietly, "I saw Alison again."

Aria's hazel eyes immediately enlarged to 10 times the size that they normally were – which was no small feat. "You… are you sure?"

Spencer nodded her head, reaching down to encase Aria's hands in her own. "I'm sure," she said sadly. "I was out to dinner with Toby, and I saw her… so I followed her."

"You _did?_"

Spencer nodded her head again. "And…" She then took this time to look around her; up at the tree tops that stretched on forever, down at the roots and branches scattered along the ground, and behind her at the never-ending forest trail.

"And she led me over here," Spencer finished, letting out a shaky breath as she recalled how scared Alison had looked; so scared, that Spencer wanted to do whatever she could to help her.

Aria looked over Spencer's shoulder at the trail of woods behind her, and then met Spencer's eyes once more, fear encasing her own. "Spence, why would she do that?"

At this point, Spencer swallowed loudly as she let go of Aria's hands. "That's what we need to find out," she answered determinedly as she spun on her heel and started down the trail of leaves, head darting up, down, back, and forth at rapid speed to try to catch sight of any type of clue.

"_What?_" Aria dashed forward from her standing position so that she was up to speed with Spencer. "Spencer, have you noticed that A hasn't bothered us since that night? The less we dig into this thing, the less A wants anything to do with us."

"Aria, you know as well as I do that A is going to get in our hair no matter what," Spencer said dismissively as she continued to trudge forward. "But remember what Grunwald said? A has been using us to get to Alison!"

Aria shrugged at this. "So?"

"_So_," Spencer went on to explain, "if we found her, then A probably doesn't have use for us anymore!"

"But that doesn't make sense," Aria said as she dodged a twig to her left, before releasing it, the branch snapping back into place before bouncing up and down on its hinges, still losing momentum. "A couldn't have found Alison. If he did, she wouldn't have asked us to keep quiet the other night."

"Obviously a lot of this doesn't make sense," Spencer concluded. "But that's what we're here to find out."

She bent down to the ground, crouched down so that she was merely on the balls of her feet, and narrowed her eyes, as she looked closer. Meanwhile, Aria just rolled hers.

"Spencer, what are you even looking for?"

"_Footprints!_" she hissed back, before turning back, this time moving to her knees, as she looked closer. She started crawling forward, but then stopped, whipping her head back to Aria. "Help me!"

Aria froze, but then slowly lowered herself to Spencer's level, feeling ridiculous as she did so. She loved Spencer, but sometimes she got her into the craziest situations.

"Do you really think we're going to find _footprints_ within all of these leaves?" Aria whispered frustratedly.

"Well, obviously we won't be finding anything if you're just going to sit on your ass and - "

Suddenly, Spencer stopped talking. Her speech was replaced with a short yelp, along with the withdrawing of her right hand.

As Aria looked closer, she realized that Spencer's hand was now trickling blood.

"Oh my god!" Aria whispered, leaping off of the ground and immediately rushing to Spencer's side. "What happened?"

Spencer winced as Aria inspected the wound. "I think I touched something sharp..."

She and Aria both averted their eyes toward the ground, searching for what could've possibly injured Spencer like that, until their searches brought them toward something long, shiny, and silver, standing out among all of the murky brown leaves.

Slowly and carefully, Aria got up from the ground as she approached object that had caught their attention, and with a shaking hand reached for the wooden handle to pick it up. She gulped as she held it up for her friend to see.

A knife. Spencer had cut her hand on a knife.

* * *

**Ooh, talk about violent, A. This chapter was probably a little rusty since I had zero time to edit it, but hopefully you liked it none the less. Next chapter, things heat up even more when Emily enters the scene and Hanna comes to deliver some shocking news... stay tuned, and don't forget to review with your thoughts!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Alright, so I THOUGHT that this chapter was going to be... well, one chapter. But it turns out I had to break it apart because it was WAY too long, but there's a very good chance that chapter will be posted tomorrow, so no need to worry :) Thank you all for your lovely reviews last chapter, and lucky for you I have some time to respond to them!**

**ShadowsOnTheMoon: Yep, can you believe it?! We've come so far *sentimental tear* and I'm just kidding, I've played Quiddich before as well! And I KNOW! How could people not just automatically assume Sparia? And who WOULDN'T do anything Spencer asked? She's SPENCER! With her low tenor voice, and her crazy eyes, and her knowing smirks... and oh, we'll see about that crown. WE'LL FUCKING SEE! (You're probably going to win it though, but hey, can you blame me for trying?)  
Bagilia: Aww, baby ;( I'm sorry you're not feeling well. And HAHA, I told her not to! Oh no, you are NOT dragging me into this! I'm as much of a non-shipper as you are! You can't just break up Haleb like that! It's simply BARBARIC! (Oh Vanderjesus, you say that darndest things)  
prettylittleliars39464: Well, you know Spencer and her coffee! Just like everything else in her life, she takes it up to 11. And a half. Because Spencer. And oh, there are going to be plenty of points in this story where you are scared for your life, so hold onto those socks of those!  
NewEnglandMuggleGirl: Thank you! Glad you're enjoying it!  
dreeebenz: You'll see a lot from Emily's point of view later on in the story, actually! She plays a big part in it. As for Hannily, you'll see some of them, too :)  
eveningshades1107: That's actually a quote that'll appear later on! And yes, Shaggy and Scooby are on the case, meaning Spencer has PLENTY of Scooby snacks ready for Aria in the car. And well, A is dramatic, but not ****_that_**** dramatic. But hey, they could be! But then again, he could've just dropped the knife while he was chasing Alison in the woods. And Hanna pregnant? HOW DID YOU FIGURE THAT OUT?! Just kidding... or am I? ;)**

**And now for your beautiful chapter, which you all have been waiting so patiently for. Enjoy! And as always, REVIEW!**

* * *

"OW!"

"Hold still," Aria said tenderly as she dabbed a cotton ball soaked in hydrogen peroxide on Spencer's cut. It was about 3 inches in length and nearly a centimeter deep. The knife they had come across in the woods had done an impressive job of penetrating the skin, because no matter how hard Aria tried to suppress it, the wound wouldn't stop bleeding.

While Aria was working on that, Spencer was trying her hardest not to cry out in pain by biting her lip and squeezing her eyes shut, but the sting wouldn't dissipate. The pain was so intense that tears started to meet the front of her eyes, no matter how hard she tried to hold them back.

"Alright, I give up," Aria finally said, releasing Spencer's hand as she dropped her own to her sides. "It's not going to stop bleeding anytime soon, so we might as well bandage it now."

Just as she started digging through the first-aid kit for the band-aids, the back door swung open. Aria and Spencer looked up to see a mane of shiny, black hair, still soaking wet from swimming, set on broad, tan shoulders, swoop into the room.

"I came here as fast as I could," Emily gasped, leaning over to encase Spencer in a hug as she looked down at her hand. She drew in a breath, pulling back to get a better look.

"It's not as bad as it looks," Spencer said weakly, but Emily was far from convinced.

"Not as bad as it looks? Spencer, that's going to need _stitches!_"

"Do you _really_ think we can just go to the hospital willy-nilly?" Spencer barked. "They're going to ask questions! Besides, I've got a perfectly capable nurse right here." As she said this, she pointed toward Aria, who was removing the bandage from the wrapper.

"I wouldn't count your blessings on that," Aria said unsurely as she unwrapped the bandage and placed it on Spencer's cut, pressing firmly to make sure it stuck. She was right; the band-aid hardly even covered the wound, and what _was_ covered was bleeding through, nearly soaking it completely.

"Spence, I'm no doctor," Aria said defeatedly. "You _need_ to get medical attention on this cut, or it's going to get infected!"

"I'll keep an eye on it," Spencer assured bitterly as she got up from the table and walked over to the freezer, retrieving an ice pack from it in hopes that it would reduce the swelling.

Emily still hadn't gotten over her initial shock. "How did that even happen?!"

"Aria didn't tell you?"

Emily shook her head rapidly. "All I got was an 'S.O.S' text telling me to come here."

Spencer averted her narrowed eyes toward Aria. "We really need to be more specific with those."

"Focus!" Emily exclaimed. "What happened that gave you that? Did A do something?"

"In a way," Spencer said tentatively as she applied pressure to the ice pack. "Aria and I were in the woods this morning, and I accidentally touched a knife that most likely belongs to A."

"How do you know it belongs to A?" Emily asked, crossing her arms across her chest uneasily. "And why were you two in the woods this morning?"

"Because Spencer saw Alison there the other night," Aria said bluntly, deciding the shortened version was probably best.

Apparently it wasn't, because as soon as Aria said that, Emily's face went from a healthy tan to white as a sheet. "Alison… came back?"

Realizing her mistake – the girls knew how Emily felt about Alison, and always tried to be careful when talking about her around Emily – Aria softened. "Umm… yeah. I'm sorry, Em, but she did."

Emily felt her heart beat dramatically slow down, to the point that she needed to sit down. She grabbed a bar stool and placed herself on it cautiously. "But… why did she come back?"

"Aria and I have been talking about it for a while," Spencer said calmly, "and we think that Alison wanted to pick up where she left off from the other night. She didn't look like she was finished talking."

"And the knife?" Emily asked.

Spencer sighed before she began again. This part she knew Emily wouldn't like. "Remember how scared she looked the last time we saw her?"

Emily nodded unsurely, knowing where this could be going.

Spencer reached for Emily's hand, preparing her for the worst. "She looked just like that when I saw her again. I…" She then bowed her head. "I think A was after her when I ran into her in the woods."

Emily looked like she was going to be sick, but at the same time her expression didn't change. She remained neutral, yet it was clear that she was holding back a plethora of emotions. But before either Aria or Spencer could further analyze it, Emily got up from the bar stool and reached over the table, grasping the knife. "So, you think this belongs to A?"

"Worth a shot," Aria said with a shrug. "If we can find out who it belongs to, then – "

Before Aria could finish her sentence, her phone bleeped. Not taking her eyes off of either of the girls, she fished her phone out of her pocket, daring herself to glance at it. When she finally did, she let out a sigh of relief.

"It's only Jake," she reassured the girls, and they all let out the breath they didn't even know they were holding. Aria then excused herself to the living room to answer the call.

"Hey, bud, what's going on?"

"_Where are you?_" Jake asked from the other end, and if Aria listened closely she could hear the muffled sounds of a mob of people in the background. "_We made lunch plans, remember?_"

Aria did some quick mental calculations, rummaging through her schedule in her head, before slapping the palm of her hand against her face. "Crap," she muttered. "I completely forgot. I'm so sorry, Jake."

"_It's okay!_" he said lightly, a forgiving laugh escaping his lips. "_How soon do you think you can make it?_"

"Erm…" Aria looked over at Spencer, who was still icing her injured hand, and Emily, who looked like she wanted to throw up at the sight of Spencer's injured hand. It had been quite a morning.

"_Aria_," Jake started, sensing his girlfriend's hesitation, "_we can reschedule if you're not up for it._"

"No, I am!" she said quickly. "I am, I just… can I call you back?"

"_Of course_," he said in a carefree tone. She couldn't even remember when such a way of speaking had exited her own mouth. "_I'll be waiting!_"

"Thanks," she said gratefully, before hanging up and returning to the girls, who were looking at her sympathetically.

"You forgot that you were supposed to go out with Jake today?" Emily clarified, and Aria just nodded her head, feeling completely idiotic.

"I feel awful," she went on to say. "I've been so _distant_ with him lately, and now I just cancelled on him, and – "

"Aria, _breathe_," Spencer interrupted. "If it would make you feel any better, you can go out to lunch with him."

Aria was completely taken aback by this. "I can't do that! _Look_ at you!"

"I'll be fine!" Spencer reassured. "Emily can watch over me, and if anything bad happens I've got a British doctor who kisses the ground I walk on in my phone book. You've done enough for me this morning, take the rest of the afternoon for yourself."

"Are you _sure_?" Aria clarified, only to earn Spencer nodding her head so rapidly that she was surprised it didn't just fall off.

"I'm sure! Now, go!"

Aria finally let out a sigh of defeat as she leaned in to hug Spencer tightly and say a quick goodbye to Emily before walking out the door. In truth, she wasn't even sure she _wanted_ to go out to lunch with Jake. There was a part of her that just wasn't feeling it anymore, but she wasn't ready to admit that yet…

As soon as Aria left, Emily turned to Spencer. "You should just throw in the towel and call Wren now. That cut is not going to get any better if you keep treating it like that."

Spencer sighed, realizing Emily was probably right. She reached over for her cellphone that was to the left of her on the table and started to dial Wren's number. As it was ringing, she placed the phone in-between her shoulder and her ear, using her free, uninjured hand to inspect the knife. "It looks like it's just been sharpened."

Emily let out a breath of air as she leaned over Spencer's shoulder to look at it, too. "Whoever owns it must be taking really good care of it."

"Yeah," Spencer agreed. "Like a serial killer or a sociopath."

Emily flinched at these words. "Do you really think A is… _that_ bad?"

"They have to be, Em!" Spencer exclaimed, turning to Emily now. "Think of all of the people A has mercilessly killed when they have gotten in their way. _Everyone_ is expendable in A's eyes! This person is psychotic, and I wouldn't be surprised if – "

Just as the conversation started to get heated, the back door swung open again, only this time before the girls' eyes was a girl with _blonde_ hair, narrow shoulders, and an expression filled with fear.

"Hang up the phone _now_," Hanna said urgently.

* * *

**Ooh, what does Hanna have to say? You'll find out in two chapters ;) and I know some of you are going to be angry about Aria/Jake, but I literally do not care about Jake at all, so I am perfectly fine with telling you that she's going to break up with him in a couple chapters, so you can get your party hats and confetti ready for that shebang. In the meantime, I SHOULD be able to go back to updating daily for the next week, so if you're good and review a BUNCH, I'll post it as soon as I can! Get your typing fingers ready, and review/follow/favorite/WHATEVER to let me know if you liked it or not!**


	6. Chapter 6

**You all seemed rather elated that Jake and Aria will be breaking up, and to that I say: GOOD! Ezria is so much better. And wait, while we're at it, HOLDEN AND ARIA ARE SO MUCH BETTER! Basically, every guy Aria has ever been with is 10x better than Karate Jake.**

**Alright, and now that that's out of the way, I am here to present to you all one of my favorite chapters. In it, it's going to introduce my all time favorite dynamic in this story, and I ****_hope_**** it'll be one we'll get to see on the show. So without further ado, enjoy this chapter! Oh, and of course, REVIEW!**

* * *

Ezra scratched at the collar of his black v-neck as he rapidly typed codes onto his computer. Every now and then he would slam the keyboard in frustration, wishing more than ever that he still had Lucas under his control to do all of this tech stuff for him. But eventually, a large, green checkmark blared across his screen, indicating that his transaction was complete, so he sat back in his swivel chair in relief, finally able to relax.

For now, at least.

Just as he started to close his eyes and drift into a much-needed nap, the door to the lair opened, and in walked a slim figure with a hood drawn over their face. In their hands were two coffees, which they amiably placed on the surface of the desk.

"Took you long enough," Ezra said bitterly as he reached for the coffee, immediately pursing his lips to the straw and suppressing a moan at the delicious taste and soft texture of the foam and the purely ground coffee.

"Sorry," the figure apologized, and as they did so they removed their hood, revealing a round face with plump, dark lips and brown, almond-shaped eyes, all contorted into a serious, determined expression.

Mona Vanderwaal.

"I got it at that nice little cafe in the city, but there was a line," Mona went on to explain as she took a seat next to Ezra. "And it didn't help that a certain _someone_ was there with her karate master of a boyfriend."

Ezra shot his head up, looking toward Mona for an explanation. "_Aria?_"

"Who else?" Mona said indifferently as she took a sip of her coffee. While Ezra's was filled to the brim with cream and sugar, he could see through the transparent plastic cup that Mona had taken hers supremely black. "They're out to lunch, but you can tell she's longing for her _true wuv_ to come back to her."

Ezra gave a sinister laugh at Mona's joke, before clearing his throat. "Yeah, well, that's not happening," he assured. "Now that we're broken up, I can focus on the _team_. And speaking of the team…" He gave Mona a coy grin before pressing a few keys on his keyboard, loading up a new picture on the screen. He then turned the screen toward Mona so that she could see. Mona narrowed her eyes, studying it, before nodding her head, impressed.

"Looks good," she said, admiration clear in her tone.

Ezra beamed at his new equipment purchase. "I just got it, so it should come in later this week," he clarified, pressing the 'Esc' key before spinning his swivel chair around to face Mona fully. "It should speed up the process on our end."

Mona suddenly lurched forward, looking like she was nearly choking on her coffee, but Ezra could tell that she was actually laughing. Ezra studied her intensely as she mockingly wiped a few laughter-filled tears from the corner of her eyes. "Was it something I said?"

"Yeah... um, process?" Mona snorted, clearing her throat. "Ezra, you do realize that it's been 2 years, and you've hardly even gotten _close_ to finding Alison?"

Ezra's features suddenly hardened, and he found himself gripping the arms of his chair so hard that his fingers were about to fall off. "Yes, I do."

"So do you really think that a piece of fancy equipment is going to change that?"

Ezra found he couldn't take it anymore. He stood up from his chair, pacing away from Mona. "You know," he snarled, his back still to her, "this would be a hell of a lot easier if you weren't being all buddy-buddy with those brats and were focusing on the goal."

"We have completely different goals in mind, Ezra!" Mona fought back. "This was supposed to be a _win-win _situation! I torture the girls, in order to lead _you _to Alison. Meanwhile, I'm having the time of my life getting back at those girls, but you're getting nowhere. What do you plan on doing about that?"

Ezra whipped around, anger present in his angular features. "Why did you come here, Mona? Was it to evaluate my life choices, or for something else?"

Mona gave him a look that said, _We're not done here,_ before stubbornly fishing into her pocket, retrieving a folded piece of paper. "Here," she said shortly. "It's the bill from the card that charges to the team's checking account. All you need to do is sign it."

Ezra snatched it from her before unfolding it, his eyes dancing back and forth as he inspected each item. Once he had gotten to the middle of the page, he stopped short, dropping it to his side and glaring at Mona. "Really? _Three pairs_ of Gucci wedges?"

At this, Mona simply smirked. "My parents cancelled all of my credit cards once I was released from Radley."

"So you used the _team account?_"

"You can't leave a girl with nothing but flats!" Mona argued. "It's simply _barbaric!_"

Ezra could feel his blood boil to the point that he found himself digging into his pockets with shaking hands. "Why you little – "

But before he could finish his sentence, he stopped short. He dug further into his pockets, but felt nothing but cloth and some spare change. He reached further in, grabbing the insides and pulling them inside out. Nothing.

"Where's…" he began, before speeding past Mona toward his desk, scrambling through drawers and file papers and old masks that were now proven useless, only to come up for air with nothing that he was originally searching for.

"Where's my knife?" he finally croaked. At this, Mona suppressed a laugh, only to earn Ezra looking up at her with crazed eyes.

"It's not funny!" he snapped, his voice cracking even further this time. "That was my father's knife!"

"Seems like the apple doesn't fall far from the tree," Mona muttered under her breath, but Ezra ignored her.

"Where is it?" he asked, out of breath. "Did you take it?!"

Mona simply held up her hands, somewhat mockingly, to show that she had nothing. "_I _didn't take _anything_," she said, condescension clear in her tone. "If you were _really_ cut out for this lifestyle I bet you'd keep better track of your things."

As Mona said this, she knew she had struck a nerve, because it took all of 2 seconds for Ezra to slam the drawer shut and lunge at Mona, pinning her to the nearest wall with his gloved hands secured around her neck.

"Listen you little bitch," he hissed into her face. "You wouldn't be _on_ this team if it wasn't for me. You'd just be a stupid little church mouse singing gospel hymns in your striped sweater sets as you waited at your bedroom window for Hanna to even _notice_ you."

Mona's eyes widened, but they returned to normal size soon enough as she pursed her lips into a thin line. "I may be _on_ this team because of _you," _she said harshly, her tongue clicking against her teeth with perfect accuracy, "but this team is what it _is_ because of _me._"

As Mona spoke these words, Ezra's grip slackened as he pondered over them. Mona used this to her advantage. She drew back her foot, letting it bounce back directly at the base of Ezra's shin. He keeled over in pain, and she snaked her way out of his grip, sauntering over to the door. As Ezra recuperated, he cursed himself for letting Mona getting away. But at the same time, he was quick to recover. Not missing a beat, he snatched his phone up from the desk, still cringing at the pain in his knee that was most likely going to result in a bruise, and dialed into his phone an all too familiar number.

"We've got a lack of cooperation on this end," he growled into the phone. "Time to initiate plan B. Are you ready?"

* * *

**And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what would happen if Vanderjesus and EzbiAn crossed paths. And they will cross paths several times during this story, so prepare yourself :) also, leave a review telling me what you thought of this chapter, and what you'd like to see in later chapters, and I'll hopefully see (or read?) you all tomorrow!**


	7. Chapter 7

**IT'S WINTER BREAK! I've never been so happy in my entire life. And that means, you guessed it, faster updates! For those of you who were wondering, this story is going to be about 60,000 words, but I'm not entirely sure how many chapters that makes. I'd say it's about midlength.**

**prettylittleliars39464: Thank you! I try to make it as realistic as possible :)  
NewEnglandMuggleGirl: The knife wasn't put in the forest on purpose, Ezra dropped it by accident when he was chasing Alison through the forest. Remember, he was after her the night Spoby was on their date. Hope that clears things up!  
eveningshades1107: Lezra? Oh my god, COULD THAT BE WHY LUCAS COMES BACK IN 4B? To confess his love to Ezra? Man, you and your crack ships. First Cucas, now this?! And I actually put in several hints to Spona throughout the story. See if you can pick them out :) and I KNOW! Parents? Vanderjesus? Who would've thought? And you'll find out who that player is this chapter, actually ;)  
Aj: Thank you! Glad you're enjoying it!**

**Alright, this chapter features another flashback that reveals the entire A team as a whole, and reveals who Ezra was talking to on the phone in the last chapter after Mona had (gracefully) escaped. Enjoy this chapter, and don't forget to review with your thoughts! The last chapter didn't get as many reviews as I had hoped, but if you guys could pick it up a little I'd be super happy. I know the story seems slow now, but things pick up FAST, I promise you!**

* * *

_Mona pushed the door to the bar open, hearing the bell at the top jingle as she let it close behind her. The smell of alcohol was so strong that she had to adjust her glasses further up her nose more than once; they kept falling down due to the number of times she had crinkled her nose._

Fifth booth to the right_, she thought to herself, eyes grazing the room for the person, or persons, she was looking for. She was told they'd be in black hoodies, making her shiver at the thought. This whole thing gave her a kind of _colt_ feel, which wasn't exactly her scene, but she decided to give it a try before dismissing it totally._

_Finally, she spotted them. Two hooded figures in the back, nursing steaming mugs in their hands as they kept their heads ducked into their chests so that their faces wouldn't be revealed. Mona nervously tugged at the seam of her itchy wool sweater before gaining the strength to walk over to the table._

_"I take it that it was you who asked to see me?" she asked, putting on the most threatening face that she could as she sat down._

_The two hooded figures simultaneously raised their heads. One was a boy, one was a girl, both were in their early 20s. The boy, from what she could tell, had a very boyish look to him; wispy black hair that ever so slightly poked out from beyond his hood, soft blue eyes, and fair skin that sat on top of tight, prominent cheek bones. The girl, however, looked a little more mature; long, blond hair, tan skin, green eyes, full, dark red lips, and the whitest teeth Mona had ever seen._

_Despite a few minor details, the girl before Mona looked chillingly alike to someone that Mona despised. And, from what Mona had deduced, this girl despised the same person._

_"You are correct," the girl said, and the boy next to her nodded his head in approval._

_"You're smart," she continued on. "And we need someone smart for this."_

_"What exactly is it that we're doing?" Mona asked. In response, the boy across from her pulled out an envelope. He pressed down the manila paper so that it was sans any creases, then he slid it over to Mona._

_"All of your instructions are in here," he explained, patting the envelope. "And if you have any questions, you can simply text one of us."_

_Mona eyed him suspiciously. "I don't even know your names."_

_The girl rolled her eyes. "The newbies always need clarification," she said out of the corner of her mouth, most likely speaking to the boy. "Fine. I'm Cece, and this is Ezra."_

_At this, Mona involuntarily snorted. _Ezra_ and _Cece? _Were they _joking?_ But once she recovered, she was not met with the faces of jokesters._

_"I wouldn't make fun of the name of the person who is funding this entire plan," Ezra growled, his formally boyish features soon contorting to those of a wolf or any other fierce animal, and Mona immediately sat up straight._

_"I... I'm sorry, I didn't - "_

_"Relax," Cece assured, somewhat harshly this time, though. These people certainly didn't play around. "Anyway, we have to get going. Just read the instructions and follow through with them. Got it?"_

_"Yes, ma'am," Mona said obediently. Cece gave a satisfactory smile before turning to Ezra. "You're paying."_

_Ezra muttered some swear words under his breath before fishing out his wallet, pulling a few dollar bills out, and throwing them onto the table. He then stood up without so much as a goodbye and exited the restaurant._

_Cece watched him go, before stealthily reaching for the stack of bills, sifting through them. She then rolled her eyes as she separated the bills into two groups. "What a douche," she said before throwing the other stack carelessly onto the table. "He didn't even count. This must be, like, a 50% tip."_

_Mona cleared her throat nervously. "Umm..." she began. "Isn't that a nice thing to do?"_

_"It would be if you weren't a one-percent snob," Cece said dryly before taking a section of the money and handing it off to Mona._

_Mona looked up, shocked. "What's this for?"_

_"Get yourself a pair of contacts," Cece said suggestively as she stood up from the table. "If there's anything left, call me and we'll go shopping."_

_"Shopping?"_

_"Trust me," Cece said, looking Mona up and down as if she were the most pathetic thing. "You need it."_

_And with that, Cece exited the restaurant as well, leaving Mona confused and bewildered._

_But at the same time, she kind of liked it._

* * *

"You've got to be kidding me."

"No, I swear!" Jake said honestly as he leisurely strolled down the sidewalk, Aria's hand in his. "You can't blame me, though, I was ten."

"Yeah, and when I was ten I had already started making my own clothes," Aria pointed out snarkily. "But that doesn't mean I tried to stab my brother with knitting needles when he annoyed me!"

"The kid took my ice cream," Jake said with a shrug. "I considered that a need for defense, so I smacked him in the jaw."

Aria just laughed in disbelief as she squeezed Jake's hand a little tighter. They had just finished a delicious lunch in the city, and he was now walking her back to her car. They had a wonderful time, and she was beginning to doubt why she had been so skeptical about continuing this relationship in the first place.

They had rounded the corner, and Jake had started talking again, but Aria soon found herself not even listening. It wasn't that she wasn't interested in what he had to say, but something else had caught her attention...

She had completely forgotten. Right next to the restaurant she and Jake had gone to was a book shop. It wasn't very big, but it had plenty of cozy corners to curl up and read a good piece of literature.

She would know. She had been there countless times.

* * *

_"Let me know when you get to it."_

_"Ezra, how will I get to it if you keep hovering over me like that?" Aria giggled as she held her opened book up to her chin, covering nearly half of her face. Ezra sat on the bean bag beside her, eyes opened eagerly as he surveyed Aria reading _1984_ by George Orwell._

_"You'll know, trust me!" he said excitedly. "Just turn the page."_

_Aria raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow before following orders. She licked her index finger before turning the page with it. Her eyes darted back and forth, carefully analyzing every word, before they nearly popped out of her head. She looked up, her mouth open so wide her jaw was practically disconnected from her skull. "NO!"_

_"Yep!" Ezra said, success clear in his tone as he sat back pumping his fists in the air. But Aria looked far from pleased._

_"He ratted her out?" Aria just about screeched, before opening to the page again, burying her face in it as she read the next couple of paragraphs. By the end of it, she was only even more worked up._

_"They _both_ ratted each other out?" she gasped, and Ezra just continued to laugh at her._

_"It's not funny!" she cried out, smacking him with the binding of the book before crossing her arms against her chest. "I _loved_ them."_

_"Yeah, Orwell will do that to you," Ezra said with a smirk and an indifferent shrug. Aria just continued to pout._

_"How can you be _happy_ about that ending?" she asked. "Winston and Julia are perfect."_

_Ezra just scoffed. "They got annoying after a while," he claimed. "It got to the point that I was almost _rooting_ for Big Brother."_

_"You were rooting for the leader of a dystopian society to thrive?" Aria challenged, and Ezra simply shrugged._

_"Okay, I wouldn't go _that_ far," he said, backing away from his previous statement. "But I don't see all of the controversy over those two."_

_At this, Aria leaned back into her beanbag, her back sinking into the clothed beads comfortably. "They fought so hard for each other," she said timidly. "It almost reminded me of..."_

_"You and I?" Ezra finished, and Aria smiled as she nodded her head. But eventually, her smile dissipated._

_"It worries me," she finally spoke again. "It makes me think... you know... that we might end up like that."_

_After hearing this, Ezra softened. "Hey," he said quietly, reaching over and tipping her chin upward with his fingers. She looked up at him, eyes shining with hope._

_"I promise you that our ending will be happier," he said in a voice so gravelly that it nearly made Aria shiver. Aria then offered up a weak smile as she leaned in for a kiss. But to her surprise, he pulled back._

_Aria pulled back too, her eyes widening. Ezra froze, caught, before he took in the sight of his surroundings. They were in a corner, surrounded by bookshelves, and the clerk was all the way at the front of the store, doing inventory while she tried to fix the paste for her false teeth._

_There was not a soul in sight. More importantly, there was not a Rosewood citizen in sight. They were in Philadelphia, and no one could get to them._

_Aria reached this conclusion at the same time he did, and then decided to make loose ends meet by slipping her hand into his. "My dad isn't supposed to pick Holden and me up for another hour," she whispered, a sly grin on her face. "We need to stop getting so nervous and make the most of this, okay?"_

_Finally, Ezra nodded his head, leaning in to kiss her. Hard._

_Neither said it, but both could agree that there was no place either would rather be._

* * *

"Aria?"

Aria blinked, suddenly snapped out of her thoughts. She looked to the side of her, where Jake was eyeing her with concern.

"I'm sorry," she said apologetically. "I'm clearly just not with it right now."

"Don't worry about it," he said with a sweet smile, before he continued walking. But suddenly, he, too, stopped in his tracks.

He looked over, staring for what seemed like days at the bookshop that Aria was just daydreaming about. It took a minute, but he suddenly furrowed his brow.

Aria bit her lip. He knew.

"You were here with him, weren't you?"

Aria opened her mouth to deny it, but she stopped herself. Jake deserved better than that. Finally, she sighed, bowing her head into her chest. "We used to sneak out into the city back when my parents were still on the rocks about our relationship," she confessed.

Jake's face hardened, before he started walking again. Only this time, he walked at a quickened pace. So quick, that Aria's tiny legs could hardly keep up.

"Jake, please don't be angry."

"I'm not angry," he muttered, before turning to her, and she could tell that he wasn't. There wasn't a hint of anger in his face.

But there was sadness.

"I thought we could work through this," he said softly. "I thought you were really over this guy."

"Jake, it's just a bookshop, it didn't mean anything."

"Clearly it did if you were staring at it for that long!" he shot back. "I'm never going to live up to him, am I?"

Aria just stood there, not knowing what to say. She wanted so badly to reassure him that he was fine, that Ezra meant nothing to her anymore, that she wasn't having any second feelings about their current relationship. But she couldn't; she didn't want to lie to him.

Jake closed his mouth into a thin line, understanding what this meant. "Aria, I..."

"You don't want to see each other anymore, do you?" she finally blurted out, and the shock on Jake's face was enough to break her.

"Is that what you want?" he said. His voice was short and straight, like someone cutting a piece of cardboard, but Aria never thought it would have this kind of effect on her.

The minute Aria bobbed her head up and down in the universal symbol for "yes", Jake found himself turning on his heel and walking away, leaving Aria never feeling so horrible, yet also so relieved, in her entire life.

* * *

**Boom. So now that Jake's out of the picture, things are really going to start picking up in this story. Starting next chapter, the girls are going to break out the mystery machine and really get cracking on the case of who A is, and what A wants. And as of now, we have seen the entire A team, based on that flashback: Cece, Ezra, and Mona are officially A, and they have a plan. What is that plan? You'll have to read on to find out ;)**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey guys! As promised, I am here with your daily update, and you all were really good about reviewing last chapter! It could have been because some of you were catching up from previous chapters, but I don't care. You guys are the best, and I'm so happy you seem to be liking this story :)**

**prettylittleliars39464: Yes, this chapter Hanna has a LOT to say! And I'm glad, too, because now the story can REALLY go somewhere ;)  
Ava B: Don't worry about being late! I'm happy to see your reviews all lined up like ducks :) I'm glad you're liking the Ezra/Mona dynamic. It's my favorite part of this story. And I KNOW! They better not pull another Toby, and they BETTER not make Ezra have a twin or something stupid like that. Sasha said in an interview that Alison doesn't have a twin, but someone else MIGHT have a twin, and I was like NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Please no.  
eveningshades1107: Nerdy Mona is my favorite Mona next to Psycho Mona... and next to Mona 2.0... and next to Popular Mona... oh to hell with it, I love every single one of that bitch's 9000 personalities. And MeMe I'M DYING! You'll see more of them throughout the story, and I've gotta say, they're almost as great as MezbiAn! And yes, calling it now, that's their official ship name. And well, that flashback with 1984 may or may not be foreshadowing anything... ;) as for members of the A team, some members come and go, like Toby and Lucas did, but in the end it is these 3. Hope that clears things up :)  
Bagilia: Alright, sweetcheeks, hold your horses, when I said 2 chapters, I meant when 2 chapters PASS. THIS chapter is when we find out what Hanna says. Chill. I don't appreciate you yelling at me... but I love you all the same XD I loved 1984, but I do agree with Ezra. Julia and Winston annoyed me! I was happy with the ending, when Big Brother won, even though everyone else who read it was extremely upset. I guess that's just my Slytherin heart ruling out :) and speaking of Slytherin hearts (kinda), while you're slowly getting better, I'M now the one who's sick! I have a major cold, and it sucks. I'm miserable. But hey, what can you say but that being sick for the holidays is the universe's way of telling me I've been naughty this year :/**

**Alright, now this is the chapter where things really start heating up, and they heat up FAST. Put on your thinking caps, guys, because the OT4 is now in action.**

* * *

"Hanna, what is all of this about?"

Hanna just kept opening and closing her mouth like a fish, mentally deciding how she was going to word whatever she wanted to word. But before she could even bring up what she wanted to talk about, her sky blue eyes bulged out of her head at the sight of Spencer's hand. "What the hell happened to your hand?!"

Spencer just closed her eyes and put her good hand up to signal that they move on. "Just skip it. What did you come to tell us about?"

Finally, Hanna gave up and took a deep breath. "When we were in A's lair that night, I... I found something."

Spencer raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "I'm assuming what you've found is currently in your hands behind your back right now?"

Hanna's eyes widened again as she looked down to realize that Spencer had caught onto her hands being hidden behind her back. Deciding to give up the suspenseful act, Hanna rolled her eyes as she pulled out the hidden object and slapped it onto the table with a satisfying _thud_.

It was a book, one that Emily and Spencer had never seen before. It was silver in color, and coarse in texture. It had sequined cloth embroidered into the felt cover, and around the cover was a long, fat bow, also silver in color.

Emily frowned. "You found _this_ in A's lair?"

Hanna nodded her head rapidly, as if doing so at the fastest speed possible would convince her friends. "It was on a shelf behind the desk," she explained.

Spencer picked it up, inspecting it carefully as though she could pick up on fingerprints and dandruff particles with her mere naked eye. "Is this A's... _diary?_"

"That's what I thought at first," Hanna said softly, startling the girls with her whispered tone. The girls had never heard her so timid. "But... then I looked inside."

"And?"

Hanna raised her eyes, finally meeting those of the other girls after avoiding their gaze for so long. "It's not A's. It's _Alison's_."

Emily's complexion paled in an instant at these words. "... Alison's?"

"How did A get a hold of Alison's diary?" Spencer questioned, only for Hanna to scoff.

"Spence, you know as well as I do that A can get a hold of whatever he wants, _whenever_ he wants it," she snapped. "And apparently what he wants is a journal that has page after page of Alison charting her daily shehaginans."

Spencer brought her hand up to her face in a facepalm of frustration. "_Shenanigans,_ Hanna."

"_Whatever_," Hanna barked. "Do you want to know what I found or not?"

Taken aback, Spencer and Emily froze. They were amazed enough that Hanna had found something, but she went _snooping through it _too? She was obviously on a roll.

Emily was the first to speak. "Umm... by all means."

After Emily said this, Hanna walked past the two girls, over to the staircase. The other two girls watched, confused, until Hanna whipped back around. "Where's Aria?"

"You just missed her," Spencer answered. "She left just as you came."

Hanna shrugged at this. "I can fill her in later then, I guess," she said, not thinking too much about it as she returned to the table. But as soon as she pressed her hands onto the surface of the book, her features darkened, and Spencer and Emily immediately knew it was time for business.

Spencer sat down at the nearest chair, still icing her hand. "So what did you find in there?"

Hanna bowed her head. "I've been reading through it, cover to cover, for the past few days, and I came across something just now - "

"Wait." Spencer put up her good hand to interrupt. "You've been reading for the past few days... and you're not even finished yet?"

Hanna rolled her eyes again. "Oh, _sorry_ I can't finish a book within a 6-12 hour period like you. And besides, with everything going on lately, can you blame me if my reading skills are subpat?"

"Sub_par_," Spencer corrected again, before muttering, "Just like your _vocabulary_ skills as of late."

"Excuse me!"

"_Focus_, both of you!" Emily finally scolded, cutting the wire, before gesturing for Hanna to proceed.

Hanna huffed, before opening the diary to its marked page. "There. Right there. That entire paragraph."

"What does it say?" Emily asked before leaning against the counter to get a better look.

"Just read," Hanna encouraged, darkness reaching her features again. Whatever it was Emily and Spencer had to read, it couldn't have been good, but they went ahead anyway, starting at the top of the paragraph.

* * *

_This is going to be a weird change of tone for you, but I think I might actually be scared of him. I know, it's weird since I was pining over him not too long ago. But you would too, with that smile and those blue eyes! Mom always said that eyes are the window to the soul, but I know now that that's just a load of bullcrap. I don't see any soul in him anymore, and if I do it's pitch black. I made a huge mistake the other day regarding him, and I will regret it for the rest of my life. I know I will. Know why? Because I don't have a lot of time left in this so called life._

* * *

Emily could feel her heart stop at the words. "Maybe we shouldn't..."

"Em, we have to!" Spencer argued. "If you want someone to hold your hand through the scary parts - "

"I'm not scared!" Emily whined, dodging Spencer's jabs as she drew her eyes back to the page.

* * *

_He's out to get me. I can feel his presence everywhere, and I know I'm not safe. I have to get out, but I don't know how. I'm not worried about Mom. She'd be __happy__ to have me gone. But I am worried about the girls. What will they do? Who will take care of them? There will never be an easy way out of this, but I have to figure it out. For my own safety, and for the safety of others, I have to get out._

* * *

"When was this written?" Spencer asked, picking up the book and inspecting the page for a date, but Hanna just pried it out of her hands.

"It was a few weeks before her disappearance," she answered. "I think A must've been after her by then, because why else would she say that he's out to get her?"

"But are we so sure that this person and A are one in the same?" Emily pointed out.

"Em, by the looks of it this person that she's speaking about is Board Shorts!" Spencer argued, the same enthusiasm in her voice that she always got when she was putting something together. "Something happened between her and Board Shorts that scared her, so when A came, she at least _thought_ that it was him. It's a start!"

Emily let out a deep breath. "Okay, you're right... so where do we go from there?"

"Well, let's think," Spencer prompted. "What could Alison have possibly done to make Board Shorts want to kill her?"

"I can think of a dozen reasons why _I_ wanted to kill her," Hanna muttered under her breath as she absentmindedly flipped through the diary pages, but her comment was ignored by Emily and Spencer.

"Weren't she and Board Shorts seeing each other?" Emily asked meekly, as it was a sensitive subject, before nearly cringing as she added, "_Sexually?_"

Spencer thought about this, before her eyes widened. "Alison thought she was pregnant," she whispered, before shooting her head up, resisting the urge to grab Emily by the shoulders and shake her at the revelation. "She was _pregnant!_"

Emily blinked. "So?"

At this, Spencer rolled her eyes. Sometimes, being the intellectual one in the group had its drawbacks. "What if she told Board Shorts, and he flipped out?"

Emily gulped at this. "That... makes a lot of sense."

"It makes _so_ much sense!" Spencer said excitedly, throwing her hands up, before retracting them as the searing pain in her wounded hand increased. Emily, once again, looked like she was going to puke all over Spencer's coffee table, but it wasn't at the sight of blood this time.

"The thought of someone wanting to hurt Ali like that..." she whispered sadly. "I can't even imagine how _scared_ she must've been."

In a show of comfort, Spencer reached out her good hand to rub Emily's shoulder. "Alison's strong, Emily. She's made it this far, remember that."

While Emily and Spencer were talking, Hanna had continued to sift through the pages of the diary, skimming them for anything of use. But so far she wasn't finding anything that she could add on to the previous revelation.

"I give up," she finally said, flinging the book into the center of the counter.

But as it landed in the center with a giant _flop_, something happened.

Flying out of the inside of the diary was a folded up piece of paper, of which each of the girls stared at intently, paralyzed like a deer in the headlights as their eyesight caught the fine blue lines on the looseleaf.

Deciding it was time to be the brave one, Emily reached in to grab the paper, unfolding it with her nimble fingers, which were still wrinkled from being in chlorine for so long that morning. She then placed it on the table, using the palms of her hands to spread it flat out against the wood so that she could read the script it contained.

But it wasn't script at all.

"Drawings?" Hanna said, unimpressed. "That's it?"

"Hold on, let's not dismiss it just yet," Emily said optimistically, but Hanna wasn't having it.

"I can't _believe_ her," Hanna exclaimed, clearly irritated. "I took a huge risk stealing this diary to get valuable information, and it's only a matter of time before A catches on. But then Alison chooses to waste space by using it as a _carcass?_"

"First of all, you mean canvas," Spencer squeezed in, "and second of all, it's not like Alison knew at the time that we would need this diary to figure out our stalker and her supposed _murderer_."

"It wouldn't kill her to try and figure it out," Hanna said bitterly, putting her elbow on the table as she rested her chin on her clenched fist.

But while Hanna continued to whine, Emily looked closer at the sketches. She noticed something familiar about them. Alison was certainly a very good artist - as she was good at just about everything else - so it would make sense for her drawing style to look familiar, but there was something familiar about the characters she had drawn as well.

There were 5 characters, and she could easily pinpoint flowing dark hair on one, a glowing smile on another, regal shoulders on the third and prominent eyebrows on the fourth. Emily gasped as she held up the picture for Hanna to see.

"Look at these sketches and tell me what you see," she said nervously. Hanna looked closer, and then gasped along with Emily.

"It's us, isn't it?" she said quietly, and this encouraged Spencer to join in looking as well.

Alison had drawn beautiful sketches of all four of them. She had practically nailed every feature, from a beauty mark on Spencer's left cheek to Aria's lithe, fairy-like features. Whether she was going to put them up on a dartboard later or she wanted to have something to remember them all by in a good way, they did not know.

At this point, they didn't even know where Alison _stood_ with them.

"Wait, guys, we're forgetting someone," Emily pointed out, and then, with a shaking finger, poked one of the black and white sketches on the page.

She was correct. There was one more person that was sketched that the girls had left out. This sketch was of a boy. He had black hair that curled slightly at his forehead, a prominent jawline, and a cute smile. Alison had drawn him wearing a v-neck, but there was something about the drawing that rubbed each of the girls the wrong way.

"Does that drawing look familiar to you?" Hanna voiced uneasily, eying the picture even more carefully as she tried to imagine the figure in a different piece of clothing, seeing if that would change anything. Spencer leaned in to get a closer look, too, as did Emily.

All three stared at that picture for what seemed like forever, the feeling in their limbs slowly leaving them with each passing second. They each knew whom it looked like, but each was also too afraid to say it.

"On three," Hanna finally croaked. "One..."

"Two..."

"Three..."

The girls each took a long breath before saying the name that would change their lives, and their friend's life, forever.

"Ezra."

* * *

**OOMPH! Right in the feels. So the drawing is of Ezra... what does that mean? It means Ezra and Ali knew each other, and SO much more. This little piece of information is just a snowball running downhill into an explosion of trauma for everyone, and it leads to the girls finding out more about the A team than they ever expected. If you enjoyed this chapter, be sure to review/follow/favorite/WHATEVER to let me know that, and if you didn't... do all of that stuff anyway! XD**


	9. Chapter 9

**You all got a kick out of smart Hanna _and_ Spanna, and I've got to say, I agree with you. Spanna is pretty badass. Ctrl + A, anyone?**

**prettylittleliars39464: Well, it'd be boring if I just had her mope about Caleb the entire time! Hanna does get pretty smart in this story... well, at least as smart as she CAN because, well, she's Hanna :)  
Ava B: Don't forget, I know as well ;) I can tell you, though, that in a few chapters, Aria will know about who Ezra is. How she'll find out, however... you'll need to read on to know!  
eveningshades1107: You are just full of ideas today, aren't you? Unfortunately, I did not manage to incorporate any of those into this story, haha. And well, the girls are going to attempt to tell Aria about EzrA, but she reacts... interestingly. And whether she choices to believe it or not is for you to find out ;) and no worries about the PM, I'm going to read it just after this!  
Lady Elena Dawson: Welcome to the story! To answer your question, I sent you a PM. Hopefully that helps :)  
Guest: Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far :)  
Bagilia: Wow, I'm happy you enjoyed the chapter so much! I think you'll find that this chapter is even better :P seriously, though, the best is yet to come. This story will get even more exciting as it goes along, so hold onto your socks! And oh please, I'm perfectly allowed to have cliffhangers. I update every day, after all!**

**Alright, now for the chapter, where a lot happens. And I mean a _lot_. But this is only the beginning. There's still plenty more to come. So enjoy! And don't forget to REVIEW!**

* * *

Spencer threw her ice pack into the center of the table as she stood up from it. "Guys, this is insane."

"Ezra knew Ali?" Emily said, stunned, looking just as shocked as the other two. "That doesn't even make sense!"

"Actually... it does," Hanna whispered, only for the other two to whip their heads toward her, appalled.

"How could you say that?" Spencer exclaimed. "It's _Ezra!_ The man wears sweatervests and reads Hemingway for fun. He's basically a teddy bear!"

"Teddy bear or not, Ezra was in Rosewood around the time of Ali's death," Hanna shot back. "He went to Hollis!"

"But Board Shorts was from Cape May, Hanna," Emily said, only for Hanna to throw up her hands in a _so what_ fashion, indicating that this did not affect anything.

"Ali probably met him in Cape May, but then continued a relationship with him once she found out they lived in the same area," Hanna explained, surprising the other two with how articulate she sounded. "I mean, do you _really_ think Ali would've wanted a long distance relationship?"

"Yes," Spencer said bluntly. "She was slutting it up in three different zip codes, Hanna."

"Yeah, _briefly_," Hanna fought back. "Those were just little affairs, but what happened with Ezra must've led to something bigger."

Spencer bit her lip, pondering this. Hanna had a point, but she didn't want to admit to that. For the first time, Spencer Hastings did not _want_ to know the answer to the question on all of their minds.

"Guys, let's not get ahead of ourselves," Emily said, interrupting the debate. "We see a picture of Ezra in Alison's diary and we're automatically assuming he murdered her?"

"We're not saying that quite yet, Em," Spencer said calmly, "but it _is_ a little suspicious that he knew Alison and never thought to mention it."

"Because maybe he didn't even know her!" Emily pointed out. "That picture could be anyone."

"It looks just like him!" Spencer squeaked, her voice going into her higher register the way it always did when she got worked up. "Who do you know that has cheekbones like that? And she even got the crinkle in his eyes when he smiles right!"

When Spencer looked up again, Hanna and Emily were eying her suspiciously. Spencer didn't need a mirror to know that she was blushing. "I'm not... it's not that I... I don't pay close attention or anything, but _come on._"

"... Anyway," Emily continued awkwardly, "it just doesn't make sense to me."

"Emily, look at the facts!" Hanna said frustratedly. "Ali was into older guys, and _hello?_"

"He came to Rosewood High right when the A stuff started with us," Spencer added.

"Not to mention he randomly appears at the _worst times_," Hanna continued. "Remember when he came to Ravenswood?"

"Or when he appeared on the Halloween train," Spencer said thoughtfully. "Was I the only one suspicious about that?"

"No, I think we all were," Emily muttered, starting to see things from her friends' point of view. "I just didn't want to say anything because..."

"Aria," Spencer breathed. Oh god, how would they tell her? How would she _react_? She was going to be crushed when she found out.

If anyone knew what that was like, it was Spencer.

Spencer gulped loudly. "Maybe we're getting ahead of ourselves."

Hanna and Emily stared at her for several seconds, before taking long breaths as well.

"Yeah, maybe," Hanna agreed, and Emily responded with a nervous giggle as she picked up the knife from the middle of the table.

"I mean, next thing you know we're going to be claiming that _this_ belongs to Ezra, too?"

Hanna's eyes widened. "Where the hell did you get that?!"

"Oh, I guess we didn't tell you," Spencer muttered, only to cause Hanna's eyes to widen even more as they wandered to the cut on Spencer's hand.

"Is _that_ why you have that? Did someone _attack_ you?"

"No!" Spencer said defensively. "No one attacked me, I was just stupid and pressed my hand to it in the woods by accident."

"Why were you in the woods?"

Spencer opened her mouth to answer, only to close it reluctantly. "It's a long story," she said tiredly, not wanting to get into the details of how she found her supposedly dead best friend hiding out in there.

"Long story short, that knife belongs to A," Emily summarized. Hanna motioned for Emily to hand it to her, and Emily did. Hanna held it up close, letting the light bounce off of the silver sheath as she twisted it to and fro. After a minute, she brought it back down to the surface of the counter, her index finger pointing at something on the handle.

Two initials. _PF_.

"_PF_?" Spencer spoke the letters out loud. "What does that stand for?"

"Someone's name, probably," Emily said morbidly. "I'm guessing _F_ as in _Fitzgerald._"

"But Ezra starts with an _E_, not a _P_," Hanna pointed out optimistically, only for Spencer to dismiss this right away.

"It could belong to a family member," she pointed out, and with that she was already reaching across the counter for her laptop.

"What are you doing?" Emily asked as she watched Spencer's fingers rapidly prance across the keyboard as though they were performing a well-rehearsed tap routine.

"Searching up Ezra's family," she answered, not taking her eyes off of the screen. Because of that, she was unable to get a glimpse of Emily and Hanna's confused expressions.

"Spence, do you know how common of a last name 'Fitzgerald' is?" Emily said unsurely.

"Do you know how _uncommon _the names, 'Lila and Francis Springer' are?" Spencer pointed out as she hit the 'Enter' key in the search engine.

"Who?" Hanna asked, making a face at the untasteful names.

"Ezra's grandparents," Spencer answered as she scanned the computer screen with her eyes. "I remember Aria telling me about them one time. They're filthy rich and own an exhibit at the Osgood. _Aha!_"

Spencer clicked the mouse once more, before turning to Emily and Hanna, a mischievous grin gracing her porcelain face. "I found their website page. Now if I can just find their bio..."

"Spencer, maybe we're taking this too far?" Emily croaked, not bothering to hide the fear in her voice. "Maybe we should wait until Aria gets here."

"I feel as bad about this as you do, believe me," Spencer responded, her insides churning at the thought of keeping Aria in the dark. "But if we're going to tell her about it, we need _legitimate proof._ Otherwise she'll never forgive us. _Bio!_ Found it."

Spencer clicked the mouse once more before scrolling down. "Alright. Achievements... how they met... process of founding their establishments..."

But suddenly, Spencer stopped. Her face fell, and all of the adrenaline that she had contained for the past few minutes had vanished. She rose her eyes once again, newfound sadness present in her brown orbs. "Family," she said in a voice barely above a whisper, and Hanna and Emily immediately jumped off of their stools and met Spencer on the other side of the counter.

Spencer took a shaky finger and rose it to the screen. "It includes children, grandchildren, and..." She took this time to swallow. "Spouses."

Emily and Hanna narrowed their eyes, before they saw it.

A family tree was plopped down in the middle of the page, easily accessible for anyone. Connected to Lila and Francis was a line toward Diane Fitzgerald, Ezra's mother, and next to her was her husband, who went by the name of Paul.

Paul Fitzgerald. _PF._

Neither of the girls wanted to say anything more. For so long, they'd wanted to know the truth, but the truth had never felt so... bad.

The silence seemed to stretch on for ages, like an invincible rubber band that never seemed to break no matter how far you stretched it, until finally Hanna was the one to snap that rubber band.

"So that settles it," she said weakly. "Ezra is A."

* * *

"Mona, could you _not_ file your nails while you're on watch duty?"

Mona looked up from her position on the swivel chair and rolled her eyes. She had her feet propped up on the desk and was carefully taking an emory board and applying it to the tips of her fingernails, cautiously shaping them into perfectly curved ovals and planning to paint them an intimidating red color later. On the computer screen was a video montage of what looked to be Spencer's kitchen, and in it were three of the four girls they were targeting.

"I hope you know that I like working with Cece better," Mona spat as she removed her feet from the desk and sat up as though a string were slowly pulling her upward into a sitting position.

"Does it look like I care?" Ezra spat back as he slammed the filing cabinet he was previously sorting through shut in a show of anger. "Besides, I called Cece on behalf of your behavior the other day, and she is not pleased."

"_Oooh_." Mona threw her hands up in mock fear. "What are you going to do? Put me in a time out?"

"The more you act like a five year old, the more I consider it."

Mona scoffed as she scooted her chair closer to the desk. "_You're_ the immature one in this relationship," she snapped. "You overreact over _nothing_. I mean, look! They're not even doing anything."

"You don't know that!" Ezra said with a sigh. Working with Mona was tasking labor, he'd say that. He could never win with the pint-sized ball of fury! But at the same time, he did respect her. She was smart and calculating and knew what she was doing, and they wouldn't have recruited her if she wasn't. She almost reminded him of...

_No_, he thought to himself, blocking out thoughts of _another_ certain dark-haired, pint-sized ball of fury. _Do NOT go down that road._

Shaking off his inappropriate thoughts, Ezra leaned down in front of the computer screen, searching for anything crucial that the girls could be doing. But Mona was right; he couldn't point out anything.

"Just... keep a look out," he finally said shortly as he stood up and walked back over to the filing cabinet he was working on organizing. But as he reached for the handle, it wouldn't budge. Confused, he jiggled it again, and it still remained stationary. Before Ezra knew it, he was in a fierce game of tug-a-war with the cabinet, pulling with all his might to try to get it open, but that only led to his grip loosening and him stumbling backward, breathing heavily.

Mona looked up from her spot on the chair and raised an eyebrow in amusement. "Is something _wrong_, Chief?"

"I told you not to call me that!" Ezra barked, pointing a gloved finger at Mona, before turning back toward the filing cabinet and kicking the base of it soccer style. He ignored the low ring the cabinet made as it reverberated throughout the lair, and then turned back to Mona. "The cabinet's jammed."

Mona just shrugged carelessly. "There's an emergency key over by the journal on the top shelf."

Ezra nodded as he wordlessly went over to the bookshelf where the silver journal - belonging to a certain blond haired, blue eyed girl - had lain.

But when he got to the shelf, he found the key, but he wasn't looking at the silver journal in question. All he saw was an empty surface before him, covered only with cobwebs and a layer of dust.

"M-Mona..." Ezra stuttered, and he heard Mona huff behind him as she stood up from her chair.

"What _now?_" she said exasperatedly, and Ezra whipped around, terror present in his blue orbs. He opened his mouth to answer, but he found that he couldn't. He felt his throat physically lock, no matter how hard he tried to cough up the words. Several seconds passed, and Mona was tapping her foot impatiently as she waited for him to speak.

Finally, Ezra took a deep breath and squeaked out the words. "The journal is missing."

At Ezra's words, Mona reacted in a way she rarely did. Her eyes bulged to record levels and her face paled as she did all but leap over the desk to where Ezra was. "What do you _mean_ it's missing?!"

"I mean it's not here!" he exclaimed nervously. "Gone. Absent. _Not in the premises_."

"I _know_ the definition of 'missing', Ezra, I used to read the thesaurus for fun in 6th grade," Mona snapped as she examined the shelf, and everything surrounding the shelf. But Ezra was correct, for she could find nothing in sight.

"Those bitches must've taken it when they got to the lair," Ezra muttered bitterly as he started to walk away, but he had to stop when he felt a small hand grip his arm and spin him around.

"Repeat that, please?" Mona said apprehensively, and Ezra froze. Mona hadn't known yet about how he had returned to the lair the other night to find the closet door open and every chart, file, and piece of equipment sifted through.

"The girls were in here?" Mona exclaimed furiously. "Why didn't you _say_ something?!"

"Don't blame me!" Ezra shouted back. "It's not my fault they managed to get in! _I'm _not the one who had the key last!"

"Forget it," Mona said finitely, throwing her hands to the side to indicate that the conversation was over. "The damage is done. We just need to keep a closer eye on them to make sure that - "

But Mona couldn't finish her sentence, because as she was talking, her gaze was averted toward the computer screen, where she spotted something.

"Mona, what's wrong?" Ezra asked concernedly, but Mona ignored him as she went back over to the desk and took a closer look at the screen, and soon Ezra followed close behind. On it, Hanna, Emily, and Spencer were conversing around the kitchen counter just as before, but Ezra and Mona noticed something different about them this time.

In the center of the counter, in between the three girls, was a silver notebook. The silver notebook in question.

"They _do_ have it," Ezra sighed. "They're probably going through it right now. We're toast."

But Mona just turned toward him, a sly grin gracing her ethnic features, without a hint of defeat present on her face. "Not if we can get it back from them..."

As Ezra stared into Mona's face, he understood what she was implying.

The girls wanted to play dirty? They'd just have to play dirty back.

It wasn't even near the end. It was only the beginning in their eyes.

* * *

**So as you can imagine, the A team is ready to retaliate against anything the girls have planned, because the A team is _always_ ready to strike. So the next chapter is going to deal with that, as well as other things, and I'm really excited for you guys to read it. So on that note, I'm going to go watch Elf and enjoy the fact that CHRISTMAS IS IN TWO DAYS!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Alright, guys. First of all, MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE! What are your plans for Christmas? And if you don't celebrate it, how are you spending your break? And second of all, the story. As you've picked up, things are really starting to heat up now that the girls know about Ezra's identity, and this is only the beginning. Consider the ice broken, but it's still going to take a few chapters for it to melt completely, and then a few MORE chapters for it to turn into steam, until the climax, where the ice just bursts into flames.**

**With that metaphor on your brains, let's reply to some reviews.**

**Ava B: Merry Christmas to you, too! And the opportunity was right in front of me to make that reference, I couldn't just not take it! ;) And well, I didn't mean for it to be like a ****_facebook_**** page, I meant, like, when rich people have their own website so people can search them up, you know? And oh, I think you'll like Aria's reaction quite a bit. Once she finds out, all hell breaks loose. You'll see!  
eveningshades1107: Well I mean, let's be real. If EZRA FUCKING FITZ was standing in front of your classroom every single day, how could you NOT spend the entire class staring at his cheekbones? I mean, they're PERFECT! And yes, their is going to be a retAliAtion this very chapter! Well, Cece is not featured, but Ezra IS a bumbling James Bond complaining about his life while Mona stands by being ominous and perfect, so there's that! You'll see ;)  
NewEnglandMuggleGirl: Well, I've already written it, so I already know how she's going to react when she finds out, but I think you'll like it either way :)  
prettylittleliars39464: Both of those things are correct! And both of those things are going to be mentioned this chapter... and dealt with!**

**And now for the chapter, where, I've gotta say, a lot happens. A LOT. It goes back and forth between points of view, but I think it should be pretty clear what's happening. If not, don't be afraid to ask questions in the reviews... unless they're stupid questions. Don't ask those :P but without further ado, enjoy this chapter, and don't forget to leave a lovely review at the end!**

* * *

_Spencer continued to gasp for air as the Queen of Hearts wrapped their hands tighter around her neck. Her senses were weakening, and she could only faintly hear the sound of the train rhythmically bouncing across the train tracks as her hearing diminished. She was dying. She couldn't breathe and she was dying. This was the end._

_As soon as she felt herself slipping away, there was a relief in pressure as the person on top of her was thrown across the room. Spencer finally took a chance and opened her eyes, but she was not prepared for the following sight._

_Paige McCullers was beating the ever living _shit_ out of her attacker, throwing them into a corner and punching them in every way possible. Spencer took this time to catch her breath, too weak to help Paige attack the Queen of Hearts, but it wasn't long before Paige was sitting next to her, thrown into her position by the Queen and too out of breath to keep fighting._

_With this, the Queen of Hearts slithered away, and Paige and Spencer checked up on each other, deciding to let him get away this time._

_However, this was not a good decision on their part, because if they had simply followed him a little further, if they had kept fighting, if they had gone so far as to take off the mask that was right before them, they would've caught him._

_If they had followed the Queen of Hearts into the nearest cubby, they would've seen him take off his mask in an attempt to catch his breath and inspect his bruises._

_They would've seen Ezra Fitz, cursing the day he decided to get rid of his gym membership._

* * *

Aria felt around for her phone on her vintage bedspread, hearing the ringtone increase in volume as she picked it up, and pressed a button to decline the call. She wasn't in any mood to talk to anyone, so she just buried her head further into her pillow and let out several long sighs.

She had screwed up again. Every time someone reasonable had entered her life, wanting nothing more than what was good for her, she always managed to push them away. She had pushed her mother away, she had pushed Ezra away, and now she had pushed Jake away. It wouldn't be long until her _friends_ were no longer by her side as well.

Realizing where her thoughts were headed, Aria snapped herself out of it. That was ridiculous. Her friends would never leave her side, and she would never leave their side. They'd come way too far to separate now. She trusted the girls with her life.

Just as soon as her phone had stopped ringing had it started again. Aria groaned. _Speak of the devil_, she thought to herself as she finally lifted her head from her pillow and answered the persistent caller. "Hello?" she said tiredly into the phone, not having the energy to act like she was okay.

"_Aria_," she heard a familiar raspy voice say on the other end. Spencer.

Aria immediately sat up. "Spencer, what's wrong? How's your hand?"

There was a pause on the other end as, Aria guessed, Spencer began contemplating this. "_I should be asking what's wrong with you,_" she finally said. "_Why do you sound so glum?_"

Aria sighed, not wanting to get into it just yet. "It's nothing," she said, hoping Spencer wouldn't push it. "You're the one who called, Spence."

"_Right,_" Spencer said abruptly, confusing Aria. She wasn't usually this spacey. "_Listen, how far are you from Rosewood?_"

"Actually, I'm at home," Aria answered, figuring this would be enough information for Spencer to connect the dots about Jake, saving Aria the effort of explaining. "What do you need?"

"_Oh,_" Spencer said quietly on the other end. "_Umm... can you come over?_"

"Spence, can it wait?" Aria whined as she leaned back onto her pillow, her head sinking into the cushion. "I'm really not in the mood."

"_No, it can't,_" Spencer said firmly, and Aria could tell by her tone of voice that she was serious. "_Please try to come over. We..."_

Aria pushed the phone closer to her ear as she listened in. "You what, Spence?"

There was still silence on the other end as Spencer tried to sort out her words, but she finally gained the strength to speak again. "_We found something out about A that concerns you._"

Aria's mouth disconnected from her jaw and dropped down to her chest as she shot up from her repose like a jack-in-the-box, but before she could say anything else, she heard the line click.

_Concerns me?_ Aria thought to herself as she reached down under her bed to grab her most convenient pair of shoes, strapping them onto her feet as she rose from the bed. _What could the girls have found out about the team that concerns me? And why do they sound so afraid to tell me?_

With a heart thumping at several beats per second and a mind filled with unanswered questions, Aria slipped on a leather jacket hanging on the coat rack nearest to her bedroom door and then proceeded out of the house.

* * *

"You know what to do?" Mona whispered as she zipped up her black hoodie, raising slightly from her crouched position to peer into the window of the Hastings house.

Ezra nodded, but groaned as he did it. "Remind me again why _I_ have to be the one to retrieve it?"

"Because you're the one who lost it in the first place!" Mona hissed, securing her hood so that it covered her face almost entirely, casting an ominous shadow over it that would've sent a shiver up Ezra's spine if he wasn't so used to the sight of it.

"I already told you, that wasn't my fault!" he hissed back, his eyes darting back and forth around the yard. Being in his A-team attire in broad daylight always made him skittish. What if someone were to see him? But it didn't seem to bother Mona, so he gritted his teeth and went along with it. The names she would call him if she found out about his irrational fear...

Mona tipped her chin up slightly to get a better view into the kitchen, but as soon she was at near eye level, she swooped back down to the ground, not wanting to get caught. She then turned to Ezra, a hungry look in her eyes.

"Alright, keep an eye down here, and once all three of them leave, break in and retrieve the journal."

"And if one of them catches me?" Ezra asked, cocking an eyebrow upward in worry. "What if one of them stays down here?"

At this, Mona simply let out a quiet cackle as she got up from the ground and started walking toward the ladder she had placed on the grass next to them. While she began setting it up at the side of the house, she took a moment to glance back at Ezra long enough to quizzically point out, "Do you _really_ think those girls are smart enough to have one of them keep a lookout?"

Ezra quietly muttered that this was true as he peered into the window, bending his knees as he prepared himself to charge when it was time. As soon as he heard the loud _chink_ of glass breaking above and the scuffling of feet, he sprinted toward the door, lock pick in hand.

* * *

"She should be on her way," Spencer said as she hung up the phone. "But I don't know how I feel about telling her."

"It's now or never," Emily said determinedly, although there was still some reluctance in her voice. How would one go about telling their best friend that the love of her life was truly the enemy?

"It doesn't have to be now," Spencer mentioned. "She was supposed to be on a date with Jake, but by the sound of her voice and the fact that she mentioned she was at home, I'm willing to bet that date didn't go well. Don't you think we should wait until she's not so upset?"

"Why?" Hanna inquired in her usual snarky manner. "She deserves to know. Just like I deserved to know when Caleb was working for Jenna, and just like you deserved to - "

"Don't finish that sentence," Spencer warned, knowing that she was implying she deserved to know that Toby had betrayed her. She was trying to move past that, and she was completely relieved that it didn't seem like he was the one who Alison feared the most, but there were still several questions in the back of her mind that she was itching to ask him.

Hanna, realizing her mistake, closed her mouth. She then comfortingly reached for Spencer's hand. "What happens next is going to be hard, Spence," she said softly, her voice like a ribbon of honey wrapping around Spencer's ears as she tried to speak as calmly as possible. "But we need to be strong for her."

Emily nodded her head, seemingly about to add something, but before she got a chance to, there was an earth shattering noise upstairs. All three of the girls jumped three feet in the air in shock.

"What was that?" Spencer said nervously, scooting her chair away from the table as she hopped off of it.

"It was coming from upstairs," Emily answered, already walking toward the staircase. "C'mon!"

All three of the girls scrambled to their feet, taking long strides up the stairs and nearly bumping into each other along the way up. This wasn't the first time A had taken the liberty to break into their houses, but every time they had the audacity to hope it could be their last, they broke in once more.

Spencer led the way up to her bedroom, but the minute she swung the door open, a loud gasp escaped her mouth. Hanna and Emily followed suit, and had the exact same reaction as they surveyed the scene before them.

The window to her room had been opened, and in front of the window, scattered across the floor, was a broken vase.

"A must've broken in and knocked something over," Emily concluded hastily, leaping forward from her spot into the room, dashing over to the curtain, flipping it up to peek behind it. "A is in here, I know it!"

"Em, stop," Hanna said mellowly, trying to calm Emily down. "If A was in here, they probably panicked and left."

"No they didn't," Spencer said in a low voice as a realization hit her, and Emily and Hanna looked down to realize that she had lowered herself to the ground to examine the broken china. Spencer picked up a chipped ceramic piece and held it up to them. "This wasn't in my room before, it doesn't belong to me."

"Are you sure it doesn't belong to your parents?" Emily asked, but Spencer only shook her head, leaving all three even more confused than before.

"Why would A break something that doesn't even belong to you?" Hanna asked, scratching the top of her blonde head, but before either could come up with a solid answer, they heard someone calling their names downstairs.

"That's Aria," Spencer said with a sigh. She was not looking forward to this, but she recognized that it had to be done, so she turned to the other two. "Are you guys ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," Hanna said glumly as she led the way downstairs, Emily and Spencer in suit. Crushing their best friend's heart was not something they were ultimately looking forward to, but if they got through it together, maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

_Maybe_.

* * *

**And Aria has entered the house, meaning, you guessed it: next chapter, the girls are going to tell her about Ezra. How will she react? Will she believe them? What do you think? Sound off in the reviews!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Merry Christmas, everyone! Even though it was, you know... yesterday. That's why I couldn't update, of course, but hopefully you all can understand that!**

**eveningshades1107: You'll find out about that souvenir this chapter! Spencer cracks the case on that one quickly. And either way Aria reacts, it's going to be filled with feels. Lots of them. You're going to want to slap her, but you're also going to want to wrap her in a hug and tell her it'll all be okay. Hard to explain, so I'll have to let the writing translate it better than I can!  
Liz: That's a good guess! Let's see if you're right or not ;)  
Ava B: Your Christmas sounds very similar to mine! I love the Christmas Eve church service, it's so pretty. And opening presents is always fun, especially when you're surrounded by family. I always love looking for presents for my siblings that I think they'll like. And well, duh, the Sparia. You'll see some of that this chapter as well! Spencer's going to want to break it to her as gently as possible, but with news as big as this, it's very hard. I hope you like it!**

**And without further ado, here it is. The chapter you've all been waiting for. The chapter where the girls tell Aria. How will it go? You'll have to read on to find out ;)**

* * *

Since the four girls had been in a game of lying to the people they cared about for so many years, one would think they'd actually be _good_ at it. But by the way Aria was welcomed into the Hastings home with Hanna immediately encasing her in a tight, tight hug, Emily squeezing her hand and asking how she was feeling, and Spencer offering her something to drink, she knew something was up.

"Alright, what aren't you guys telling me?" she immediately asked, catching the other girls off guard by her bluntness, but she merely retaliated with a _C'mon, how stupid do you think I am?_ look.

"Spence, you haven't been this hospitable since we've first met," Aria pointed out logically.

"Well maybe now is a good time to start that back up again!" Spencer said optimistically, but Aria wasn't buying it. She looked around at each of her friends, but when she noted the concern in each of their eyes, she softened.

"What's going on?" she asked, her voice cracking. Hanna bowed her head, disentangling herself from Aria as she gestured for her to take a seat. Aria took it reluctantly, and Hanna took this opportunity to take Aria's hands in her own.

"We've... discovered something," she said carefully, "and we know you're not going to like it."

Aria nodded slowly, soaking up this new information like a sponge. "Okay..."

At this point, Emily took over. "When we were in A's lair... Hanna found a journal that belonged to Alison in there, and she's been going through it."

"And one thing led to another," Spencer continued on, "and we found out something... something about..."

"Spit it out, Spencer," Aria prompted impatiently.

Spencer took a deep breath, as if she were about to dive into the ocean and not come up for ages, and then, as Aria had directed, spit it out. "We found out something about Ezra."

The words evaporated into the air, sitting above each of the girls' heads as they waited for any kind of reaction. Aria didn't say anything. Her lips didn't move, but her face did drain of all color, leaving her resembling a ghost.

When it became clear that Aria wasn't going to speak, Emily took over again. "It turns out," she began as she inched closer to Aria, "that Alison and Ezra knew each other."

"What?" Aria finally said, before rapidly shaking her head, refusing to believe it. "No, that's preposterous. If he and Alison knew each other, he would've told me."

"Doesn't that all sound off some alarms in your head?" Hanna prompted, somewhat harshly now, as she took her hands out of Aria's and stood up from the counter. She figured it was time to stop beating around the bush. Aria needed to know the truth once and for all. "Can you think of _why_ he would keep something like that from you? His _girlfriend?_"

"_Ex_-girlfriend," Aria corrected bitterly, but this only caused Hanna to scoff as if Aria had just told her the sky was brown.

"Please, as if you two were ever actually broken up."

"We were!" Aria said defensively. "And we still are! We've hardly even spoken and we've both moved on to see other people!"

"But you still wanted to be together during that time," Emily pointed out, and Aria, after taking a second to consider this, thoughtfully nodded her head.

"Well, I don't think you're going to want to be with him anymore after this," Hanna muttered as she sat back down on the stool across from Aria, causing Spencer and Emily to gawk at her lack of tact.

"_Hanna!_"

"What?" Hanna barked. "I'm going for the 'rip it off like a band-aid' approach!"

"Couch!" Spencer ordered, pointing into the family room for Hanna to take her place there so she wouldn't cause anymore trouble. "Now!"

Hanna groaned as she removed herself from the stool and stomped into the family room, plopping herself onto the couch and crossing her arms across her chest as she pouted her lips like a small child. Spencer then took Hanna's place, sitting on the stool across from Aria and encasing Aria's tiny hands in hers the way Hanna had.

"Unfortunately, Hanna's right," Spencer continued sadly. "Ezra wouldn't want to keep that a secret unless he had a secret to _keep_ in the first place... and that secret is that he and Alison dated."

Aria's face somehow got even paler, but now it contained a tinge of green, as though she were going to throw up. Spencer squeezed her hands a little harder as she went on even further. Here came the kicker. "And w-w-we know that Ali was afraid of Board Shorts, because that's why she was visiting Grunwald; to get away from him."

"Are you saying Ezra is Board Shorts?" Aria whispered, and Spencer froze, paralyzed with fear of hurting her friend. She looked up to Emily for assistance, and Emily came around from behind to help.

"Yes, we are," Emily finally gained the courage to say, swallowing her anxieties back many times as she prepared for Aria's reaction for what she had to say next. "But that's not all."

Aria took a minute to take this all in, but when she looked back up at Spencer and Emily, her eyes had turned a dark shade of gray.

She had figured it out.

"You're not saying what I think you're saying, are you?" she asked in a voice about seven octaves lower than her regular voice was. Spencer gulped. Aria's voice only went that low when she was ferociously angry, so she could guess where this was going.

Emily nodded her head. "We are," she concluded. "Aria, Ezra is - "

"NO!"

Aria leaped up from her chair, yanking her hands back from Spencer's warm embrace. "I know where this is going, and it's not true! It _can't_ be true!"

"It is true, Aria!" Hanna said, hopping up from the couch and coming forward. "We would never lie to you, and now is not the time for you to empujen our judgement!"

Aria blinked, taken aback at Hanna's words, before narrowing her eyes. "Do you mean _impugn?!_"

Hanna shrank back, cursing her propensity toward malapropisms, as the steam continued to escape Aria's ears. "This is a complete waste of my time," she said harshly, grabbing her leather jacket and keys from the chair as she got ready to leave. "I can't believe you guys would go so far to assume such a thing!"

"We're not assuming anything!" Spencer croaked. "We have proof! Hanna, get the diary!"

"And the knife, while you're at it," Emily added as Hanna proceeded over to the counter to retrieve the items requested.

But when she got to the counter...

"Guys, where's the journal?" she said out loud. "And the knife?"

"What do you mean where is it?!" Spencer asked nervously as she and Emily left Aria's side and raced over to where Hanna was searching.

"I mean it's missing!" Hanna said obviously, sifting through papers and old homework assignments and magazines on the Hastings' kitchen counter, only to find her efforts proving fruitless. "As in _not here_."

"Hanna, I used to read the thesaurus for fun, I know what 'missing' means!" Spencer snapped. She and the other two girls continued to search for the evidence they had acquired, but they found nothing. Both had mysteriously disappeared.

"Are you guys done?" Aria said from over by the door, and the three girls looked up to find her standing by the door, jiggling her keys in the air to indicate that she didn't want to be there anymore.

Panicking, Spencer skidded over to the door like a hare, landing right in front of Aria with her hands up defensively. "This was a setup, I swear!" she said desperately. "A distracted us by making noise upstairs, then came in down here and took all of our proof! We had a knife with his dad's initials on it - "

"His dad's initials?" At this, Aria let out a dark laugh, and the other girls were startled at the goosebumps it evoked on each of their arms. Once Aria had composed herself, she gave the other girls all an icy stare. "Are you kidding me right now? Two initials on that knife that you stabbed yourself on, and you took the liberty to _look up_ his dad's name, and found a match?"

"Yes!" Spencer said exasperatedly. "What are the odds of that happening?"

_"High!_" Aria concurred. "It's perfectly normal for more than one person to share initials, Spencer!"

"Then how do you explain the _drawing_ we found of him in her journal?" Hanna fought back.

Aria just held her chin up, ready to answer. "How do you even know it was Alison's journal?"

"It mentioned all three of us in it and her writing sounded just like her!" Hanna just about screamed.

"Okay, but how do you even know the drawing was of Ezra?" Aria challenged, raising her voice to match Hanna's.

"Because if you saw it, you'd _see_ it looked exactly like him! There's no mistaking it!"

Feeling her blood start to boil, Aria widened her eyes, still not believing this was happening. Not thinking through her words, and running out of things to say, she finally blurted out the first thing that came to her mind. "Is this just your way of getting over Caleb leaving!?"

"_Aria!_" Spencer scolded, and Aria immediately wanted to take it back upon hearing Spencer's scolding and looking at the hurt in Hanna's face.

"It has nothing to do with that," the blonde said quietly, the ferocity leaving her voice as she tried a softer approach. Aria no longer saw a stranger trying to corner her and get her to listen to their opinion; she saw her friend Hanna again.

Her friends. Her sisters. They were all concerned about her. They only wanted to help her.

But Aria was still not convinced. She contorted her features into a mean glare, focusing in on each of the girls. "You know," she began coldly, "I'm getting a lot of 'if only you saw this' and 'we concluded this from that', and I'm still not seeing anything solid before me."

"I told you," Spencer said tiredly, "A came in here and took it from us."

"Weren't you the one who said we shouldn't blame everything bad that happens to us on A, Spencer?" Aria snapped, and Spencer paused, caught like a deer in the headlights.

She _had_ said that.

"This doesn't even make sense," Aria continued, and with the way she shrugged her shoulders and a disbelieving laugh escaped her lips, she almost sounded amused. "If Ezra was A, why wouldn't he try to hurt me when he had the chance? I've been with him _how _many times?"

"That's not the point - "

"No, but I'll tell you what the point _is_," Aria sneered. "You've all never liked Ezra, and this is your way of trying to keep me away from him."

"_What?_" Spencer almost tumbled backward, shocked by Aria's accusation. "I love Ezra! Or at least... I _did_."

"We all thought we loved him," Emily filled in. "He's been a huge impact on all of our lives! He helped Spencer and Hanna with their college essays, and if it weren't for him I'd be repeating the eleventh grade right now!"

"Making this proposition all the more ridiculous!" Aria said conclusively. "You may like him, but I _know_ you don't like me being with him. But he's the best boyfriend I could've ever asked for, and I was just about to go _back_ to him after this!"

"Don't!" Spencer said sternly. "He's not who you think he is."

"He's not who _you_ think he is!" Aria said stubbornly, and Spencer sighed, figuring there was no way she could win this argument.

"Please," she finally whispered, quietly trying to break all barriers by softening her tone. She was done fighting. At the end of the day, she just wanted to keep Aria safe, and that required using the most effective method possible in ensuring that.

"Stay away from him," she said again. "I don't want you getting hurt."

Aria, conflicted, averted her gaze between each of the girls. From the intense protectiveness in Spencer's face, to the worry in Emily's, to the pure love and loyalty and Hanna's, she knew she was in good hands. The girls before her meant the world to her, and she did value what they had to say greatly.

But not when it came to this. She had to follow her gut on this one.

"I'll do what I want," she finally said, in a voice too void of emotion to be her own, as she stalked out of the house, not even bothering to glance back to take in the stunned expressions on each of her friends' faces.

* * *

"Seriously, can I trust you morons to get _anything_ done?"

Ezra stood in front of the desk before his fearless companion, bowing his head in shame, but Mona refused to give a flying hoot. She was leaned up against the far wall, picking at the threads on the pull strings of her black hoodie.

"I think the color on this is fading," she said out loud, more to herself than to anyone else in the room, before looking up. "Cece, how do you feel about replacing these?"

"Shut up, Mona!" Cece shouted, slamming her hand down on the surface of the desk so hard that the hood of her red coat came flying off.

Mona stomped her foot. "But we've had these for two _years! _I'm sick of them! You of all people should know how important it is to torture people in style!"

"We're not focused on that!" Cece said, although with a bit of reluctance. The black hoodies _were_ getting old. "We're focused on how, together, you both managed to lose _two_ of our valued items, nearly blew our cover more than once, and _still_ haven't brought in that new piece of equipment!"

"That was all him!" Mona fought back, but Ezra, after shooting Mona a thanks-a-lot glare, came up to the table with an argument of defense.

"You can't get mad at us for that," he claimed. "We managed to get both the knife and the journal back, and the girls don't suspect a thing!" When Cece looked like she wanted more, Ezra was quick to add, "And last time I checked, that adapter was on it's way!"

"Whatever!" Cece held up a perfectly manicured hand, indicating she didn't want to hear it. She collected the journal and the knife, protected by a long black sheath, up from the desk and gave each of her partners in crime a meaningful glare. "I am keeping these in a safe place where _none_ of you fools can find a way to lose them again!"

"Careful, now," Mona said, not bothering to hide the snicker creeping up her throat. "Take Ezra's knife away, and he'll run crying to his dad about it."

"Bring up my shoddy childhood one more time, Mona, I dare you!" Ezra screeched, wincing when his voice made an unsatisfying crack midway through his sentence.

Mona simply shrugged. "Should've thought twice before you told me of your family's heirloom of weaponry."

"Knock it off!" Cece interrupted. "I have the final say!"

"Since when?" Mona challenged, growing tired of Ezra and turning to Cece now. "When this whole thing started, we all agreed that neither one of us would be in charge."

"No, we agreed that we'd take _turns_ being in charge!" Cece snapped. "And it's clearly my turn this week."

"Says who?"

"Says _me!_" she said simply, as though her snarky air and charming ways could earn her place above the other two. She reached into the desk drawer to retrieve something, but not before looking up and eyeing Mona in annoyance. "I liked you a lot better back when you hardly spoke."

"People change," Mona said, wisdom present in her creepily soothing voice. As Cece proceeded to get the blueprint out of the drawer, Ezra took a turn at eying Mona fishily.

"Yeah," he began, "but hardly ever do they change into rebellious super geniuses who slowly plot to take over the world and disregard anyone that helped them get there in the process."

"It's all a part of my charm," Mona said casually as she approached the desk. "What have you got for us?"

Cece took this time to look up at Ezra and Mona, smiling evilly. It wasn't her regular I'm-a-hell-of-a-lot-better-than-you'll-ever-be smile. This one was much more sinister, filled with much more malice, much more thought, much more _murder._

"Here's your next task," she said softly, in a voice that would match that of the lowest note on the piano. "Do you understand?"

Mona read the script word for word until she had the plan all committed to memory. She stood up tall, her humorous disposition from earlier now faded. She was all business now. "I understand."

Cece nodded, before turning to the boy in the group. "Ezra?"

Ezra bit his lip, reading the task a second and third time. He had to admit, he wasn't happy about it. This might be the one time Cece took it too far. But he knew that if he admitted he was having second thoughts, he wouldn't hear the end of it, so he finished the last word before looking up, swallowing quietly before proclaiming, "I understand."

* * *

**Well hot diggity damn, a lot just happened. First of all, not only does Aria not believe the girls, but she's now FURIOUS with them, and we all know that nothing good can come from the OT4 fighting. Second of all, what could the A team be planning? What is this task? Is it a plan to get Mona together with Hanna? (LOL, no. I wish...) Sound off in the reviews, and don't forget to follow or favorite, or BOTH, to let me know if you enjoyed this chapter!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Sorry for not uploading another chapter yesterday, guys! Time kind of escaped me, I guess, and I ended up spending most of the day at my aunt's house. But I'm here now!**

**Liz: Yep, kudos to you! You got it, haha. And Aria doesn't cry in this specific chapter, but you can bet your ass she'll be doing some crying later in this story.  
prettylittleliars39464: I mean c'mon, we're ALL thinking it! And well, you won't find out what their actual plan is until much later in this story, but trust me, there's going to be _plenty_ to keep you occupied until then :P  
Ava B: Believe me, I do too :( but it had to be done. But I will tell you that it won't be for long! But of course, you can probably guess what that means :/  
ComeOnWe'reTeamSparia: First of all, I still am unable to get over your username, even though I've seen it numerous times. Second of all, thank you so much! I'm glad you're liking it so far, and your predictions for what will happen next are very realistic. Whether they're accurate or not will be for you to read on to find out ;)**

**And now, the chapter in front of you. Enjoy, and don't forget to leave a review at the end! Seriously, even guest reviewers, because reviews are my favorite, and it would mean so much to me! :)**

* * *

"Has anyone talked to her today?" Spencer asked as she pulled her French textbook out of her locker, needing it to complete her homework assignment for that night. Emily and Hanna, standing next to her, shook their heads.

"I saw her in chem, but we hardly even made eye contact," Emily replied, and Hanna nodded her head in agreement as she reapplied a coat of lip gloss.

"She's not in any of my classes besides English, and we all know how well _that_ went," Hanna said as she popped her lips and screwed the cap back onto her gloss.

Hanna had a point. In English that morning, which they happened to have with Ezra, Aria had spent the entire class stealing glares at the girls any chance she got, but then returning to her attentive, doe-eyed self any time she faced Ezra again. Hanna had even reported afterward, rather upsetly, that when she looked at Aria's notebook, she had seen detailed sketches of all of the girls in pointed hats and warts on their noses ("That's always been _my_ thing!").

Spencer sighed as she closed her locker and slipped her textbook into her bag. It was Monday, and neither of the girls had spoken to Aria in the last two days. It was worrisome.

"I saw her in history, but we didn't speak a word to each other," Spencer went on to say as she marched down the hall at an intense pace. "I'm scared, guys. She usually comes up to at least one of our lockers in the morning."

"Do you really think she's going to go out of her way to talk to any of us after what we said the other day?" Emily mused, and then let out a long, heavy breath. "Maybe we were wrong to say what we said. Maybe Ezra's innocent after all."

"What?!" Hanna halted in the middle of the hall, pivoting her feet so that she was facing the others. "If you two keep flipping back and forth on whether he's guilty or not, I'm going to get even _more_ confused. I thought we agreed he's A!"

"We've jumped to conclusions before," Emily said unsurely, her eyes wandering to the meet those of the lanky brunette beside her in accusation. Spencer bowed her head, knowing how obvious her tendency toward assuming things was.

"But we have proof this time!" Hanna said exasperatedly. "Or at least... we _had_ it."

"Guys, keep your voices down," Spencer said warily as she continued to walk forward, dodging the confused glances of gossipping freshmen and members of the Spanish club hanging up posters. "Ezra does work here."

Emily and Hanna nodded as they walked on, but as soon as they started up did they stop abruptly again.

Walking in the opposite direction was a petite girl wearing a pair of black lace-up combat boots, a pair of black leggings matched with a navy blue sweater, a white knit beanie, and a smile that could light up any room.

Aria was happily chatting up a group of girls in her film studies class, but as soon as she laid eyes upon Hanna, Emily, and Spencer, her smile dissipated. The cheerful gleam to her eye disappeared, leaving nothing but a coal black stare, and with that Aria turned on her heel and strutted in the other direction, ignoring the confused glances of the girls she was talking to as she walked away from her three best friends.

Spencer started to follow, but Emily pulled her back, knowing this wasn't logical.

"Give her time," she said reasonably. "She'll come around."

Spencer huffed as she turned on her heel, too, only she went in a different direction than Aria, quietly muttering to herself, "Why does she have to be so _stubborn?_"

Emily stared after Spencer in surprise before turning awkwardly to Hanna. "Has she seemed bitter to you lately?"

Hanna shrugged. "I think she's just tired," she speculated. "She talked to Wren about her hand yesterday."

"And what'd he say?"

Before answering, Hanna let out a sly giggle. "He cleaned it up and all, but apparently he advised her not to have coffee since it'll dehydrate her blood cells."

At this, Emily let out a loud laugh. No coffee? Spencer? She must've been going _crazy._

After an awkward silence, Emily pursed her lips, searching for something to say. Normally, it was so easy to talk to Hanna, but under the current circumstances she found that her tongue was just refusing to work properly. "So... I guess this is where we go home, right?"

"Pretty much," Hanna said, not bothering to hide her annoyance, even if she felt bad that she had to direct it at Emily. She put her cherry lip gloss back into her Longchamp bag, zipped it, and hiked it further up her shoulder before saluting Emily and making her way out of the building.

As she watched her friends depart, Emily took her phone out of her back jeans pocket, sending a quick text to Paige to make sure they were still on for that evening, but she was interrupted mid-text when she bumped into something _hard_.

Or some_one_, that is.

"I'm so sorry!" Emily instinctively squealed as she bent down to pick up her phone from the ground. "I should really watch where I'm going."

But before she could do so much as touch her long, dark fingers to her new iPhone, a larger, more masculine hand had swooped down to pick it up for her. One with striped cusps by the wrist that could only belong to someone wearing a button down.

Emily gulped. She had a good idea of who it might be.

She slowly stood up from the ground; slowly enough that she could almost feel each vertebra stacking on top of one another as though she were a marionette doll (_No, not dolls. Don't think of dolls)._ When she was fully upright, she drew in a breath, even if she knew what to expect.

Ezra was standing before her, in his usual attire consisting of a sweater-vest-button-down combo with a pair of loafers to match. He held out her phone for her amicably, a charming smile on his face.

"Don't worry about it, Emily," he said warmly. "It's the end of the day, we can all get wrapped up in stuff."

Emily nodded her head, avoiding eye contact and wanting to get out of the interaction as soon as possible. If Spencer found out she was _talking_ to one of her suspects...

"I meant to ask you," Ezra went on, not noticing Emily's obvious uneasiness, "how are the college apps going? I know you were nervous about getting a recommendation, so I was hoping it ended up working out."

"Yeah, it did," Emily said, going with the answer that provided the least room for further discussion. But when she finally dared to look up, she felt her heart melt and wished she had found a way to stay in the conversation longer.

Ezra was staring at her with the most earnest look he had to offer, his blue eyes glimmering with promise and his perfectly white teeth peeking out through his cute boyish smile. For someone who played for the other team, Emily was surprised at the way she found herself breaking into a sweat at his mere _presence_.

"I'm glad," he finally said, in that compassionate way he always did. He then reached into the satchel bag around his shoulder and pulled out his itinerary. "If you wanted to schedule another meeting for further preparation, I'm staying after today - "

"I'm good," Emily said quickly, but upon seeing Ezra's startled expression, she added, "I mean I'm pretty booked up lately, so I doubt there'd be time."

"No worries," Ezra said as he held up his hand and flashed another smile. Emily felt her knees go weak. Why did he have to _smile_ so much?

_He's dangerous,_ she finally told herself as her brain kicked in. _Get AWAY_.

As she gained feeling in her legs again, she started to turn away. "Well, it was nice talking to Mr. Fitz, but I need to get going."

"Wait!"

As Emily started to walk in the other direction, she felt a tight squeeze on her arm. It was not a welcoming squeeze, and her first instinct was to cry out, but she swallowed her fear as she turned to face Ezra. They were in the middle of the school hallway. He couldn't do anything to her... right?

Ezra bowed his head bashfully. "I... I noticed some tension during class between you three and... Miss Montgomery," he said under his breath, hoping he was being discreet. "Is everything alright between you girls?"

_No, and it's because of YOU,_ Emily's more aggressive subconscious shouted in her head, but on the surface she simply nodded. "Everything's fine! I don't know what would convince you otherwise."

Ezra shrugged. "When you're a teacher, you notice things like this," he said candidly, but Emily couldn't help but think of how _observant _one would have to be in order to be the sociopathic cyberstalker that Ezra most likely was.

"We're fine," Emily said curtly, and with that she bid Ezra farewell and headed out the door as fast as her near shaking legs could carry her, while Ezra just stood back and watched in confusion.

But before he could ponder over it further, he felt a persistent tapping on his shoulder. Looking over, he saw his less-than-faithful accomplice, decked out in her normal school day attire of a perfectly pleated cashmere sweater, a pencil skirt, and a headband to match. It was the new preppy look she was going for.

He hated it.

"Mr. Fitz," she piped, still caught up in her innocent act so that bystanders wouldn't catch on. "Could I ask you a quick question about the homework?"

"Umm, sure Mona," he said awkwardly as he led her into his classroom close by. She sauntered in as he held the door for her, and he promptly closed it behind them before turning to her, a serious look on his face.

"What do you want, Mona?" he asked aggressively. Because of this, he shouldn't have been surprised at Mona's feigned shock.

"What?" she asked. "I'm not allowed to ask a simple academic question?"

"I know you," he snorted. "You had that assignment finished practically before I even handed it out."

Mona opened her mouth to argue, but when she found she couldn't make a compelling argument against how brilliant and efficient she was, she simply propped herself on the surface of one of the wooden desks, reached into her purse, and pulled out a pocket mirror and a lipstick.

"I stopped by the lair yesterday," she began carefully, as though she were recounting a trip to the mall or the grocery store.

"... Okay?" Ezra prompted, knowing that there was more to come.

Mona leaned back, taking the cap off of the lipstick and twisting it so that the color was visible. It was a dark, holly red, fitting for the chilly time of year. She briefly contemplated bringing the lipstick to her lips, but held off on it as she reached back into her bag and pulled something else out before sliding it across what was left of the desk toward Ezra.

Ezra's eyes widened to the point that they took up half of his face as he hastily grabbed the knife and stuffed it in his back pocket, out of sight. "Are you insane?! You brought a knife to school?!"

"Please, I once held up a knife with a cow brain on it to the entire student body," Mona said snarkily. "I'm over it."

"You could be expelled."

"I'm number one in the class," Mona said breezily as she popped open the mini mirror. "They wouldn't dare expel me."

Ezra sighed as he fidgeted with the straps on his satchel. It was all so confusing. Had Mona actually showed... kindness?

"You can thank me any day now," Mona offered up as she painted the berry color onto her full lips, perfectly lining it up so that it didn't succeed onto her skin.

"I'm just at a loss for words I guess," Ezra explained tentatively. "But... thank you?"

Once Mona was finished applying, she closed her mirror and capped her lipstick. She then took the time to look up at Ezra, a surprisingly warm smile on her face. "My pleasure."

Feeling uneasy in the current place in conversation they were at, Ezra attempted to change the subject. "Did the girls seem... weird today?"

Mona pondered this as she hopped off of the desk, careful to make sure her skirt didn't hike up as she did so. "Not any weirder than they usually are," she said thoughtfully. "Why?"

"You should've seen them in the hallway! It was like there was a layer of ice in between them, with Aria on one side and the other three on the other."

"So they've finally decided to gang up on the pixie," Mona mused, giggling to herself as she said it. "Well, they're going to wish they didn't after we execute Cece's next task."

"Yeah, I've been thinking a lot about that task actually," Ezra said boldly, finally gaining enough courage to come out with it. "Doesn't it seem a little risky to you? The girls are so tense already, meaning they must've come to some sort of conclusion that they're divided on, and now with _this _- "

"You know as well as I do that a safer approach won't lead you to Alison," Mona hissed, and Ezra paused. She was absolutely right. It _wouldn't_ lead him to Alison, his main goal and the reason he started this game in the first place, if they played it safe. With Cece's new task, it could lead them to the next level.

It could lead them to...

"What do you think of this new color?" Mona asked, interrupting his thoughts as she pulled her mirror out again, examining her dark, enticing lips. "It's called 'Beguiled'."

_Beguiled, indeed,_ Ezra thought to himself before clearing his throat. "Exactly why are you asking me this?"

Mona locked eyes with him before sauntering over to the door, her hand on the handle as she muttered, "I value your opinion only sometimes."

While Mona exited the classroom, Ezra didn't take any time to be confused by her words. He just about skipped over to his desk, pulling out a stack of papers to grade with high hopes that he could complete it today.

The sooner he completed the papers, the sooner he could get to the task at hand, and the sooner he could get to Alison. And that was how this whole thing started in the first place, right?

* * *

**I have two announcements for you all: one includes good news, and one includes bad news. The bad news is I'm going to be on a 5 hour flight tomorrow, so I MIGHT not be able to upload the next chapter, but I'm going to try! But the GOOD news is that I'm going to spend that 5 hour flight WRITING, and what I'll be writing is a short Haleb fic for New Years (someone contact Bagilia right now, she's gonna go CRAZY!). SO that will be uploaded around New Years Eve I presume, so you should definitely stay tuned for that!**

**Once again, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and if you did, be sure to review/follow/favorite/WHATEVER to let me know. And if you didn't like it... do all of those things anyway! :)**


	13. Chapter 13

**WOW! I got an influx of reviews yesterday, and even though majority of them were from the same person it still warmed my heart. Thank you all so much for reading and loving this story, and I apologize for the roller coaster ride of emotions I'm about to take you on! And for those of you wondering, my flight arrived at a reasonable time, so I am here to update for you all! And this is a pretty big milestone chapter, so I'm happy about that.**

**prettylittleliars39464: As long as I can stay on schedule with it, the first chapter should be uploaded by tomorrow evening! And oh man, the Emily/Ezra interaction was so fun to write for because when you think about it, the girls are awkward enough around Ezra already. Now imagine that awkward multiplied when you add in what they now KNOW about him... thanks again for reading!  
BR: Welcome to the story, and thank you for reading! And oh, you'll see Alison interact with the girls in future chapters. There's a HUGE interaction between her and one of the girls coming up, so stay tuned!  
Liz: Well, looks like I was able to upload anyway! :) Hopefully you'll enjoy this next chapter!  
ShadowsOnTheMoon: Good lord it's good to see you again, I was getting worried! Your reviews made me die of laughter numerous times, especially with the multiple descriptions of the day in the life of an ordinary Hufflepuff. It's amazing to me that you'd take the time to not just reread, BUT review all the chapters that you missed, and I'm so glad you're caught up now! (PS: Yes hot diggity damn. My dad is from Florida. Deal :P)  
eveningshades1107: You're back! Don't worry about missing it, love, real life tends to get real lifey sometimes. Your reviews were fabulous as always, and it's a treat to get two in a row from you! You literally picked up on two things I was HOPING someone would get: the subtle SPONA hint last chapter AND the wart drawings. And Beguiled is a beautiful shade, I saw it on a Zoella blog. It's a very nice berry color from Topshop (the best store EVER, even if I own absolutely nothing from it). And no worries, you're not the only one who's debating on joining the dark side. I mean, it's been 4 years and these girls still don't have a clue, and with Vanderjesus getting awesomer and awesomer every day? Umm, FUCK YES.  
Ava B: If I were Mona Vanderjesus, I wouldn't be able to make a good argument either! She's just too awesome, to the point that even SHE knows it! :) I'm glad you thought everything was true to character, that's what I aim for!  
S S Ezria: Ooh, an Ezria shipper. You are a brave soul for reading this story, I will say that ;) but seriously, thank you for reading my story, it means a lot! And you'll still see a lot of the mild, gentlemenly, dapperly dressed young man that you've fallen in love with because that's a huge part of Ezra's personality, but you're also going to see a lot of his dark side, as you've been able to tell. I apologize in advance for the remnants of your heart that will be shattered across the floor after reading this.  
ComeOnWe'reTeamSparia: That's exactly what I was thinking! It must be the apostrophe ;) and once again, thank you so much. Your reviews are always so sweet! And I know, Aria conversing with other people? The NERVE! But you will get your Sparia back very soon, because as I said, this story has a TON of Sparia. A TON! Spencer feels for Aria in a way that the others can't because they've both been sleeping with the enemy, and she doesn't want Aria to make the same mistakes that she did. And Mona and Ezra's relationship will be further explored, and it'll hint on the things you picked up on. Their relationship is pretty complex because they drive each other crazy, yet they know they have to depend on each other.**

**Alright, this next chapter is pretty huge, and I don't just mean that in length. This is a HUGE climax, one of many in this story, so I'd take good care of your heart before and after reading this...**

* * *

_Ezra raced up the crickety steps as fast as he could, his sweaty palm barely grazing the railing of the staircase. He was going to do it. Ian was actually going to do it._

_"Please..." he heard a small voice beg. "If you love my sister you wouldn't do this."_

_Ezra felt his breath catch in his throat. Spencer. He was going to kill Spencer. Ezra suddenly found his feet moving faster._

_"I am doing this _because _I love your sister," he heard Ian croak, along with the croaking of the balcony above the church bell. Spencer continued to scream for help, and Ezra ran even faster._

Don't kill her_, his mind screamed through his uneven breathing. _Don't kill her. _Please_ don't kill her.

_He finally made it to the top of the stairs, and at this point he was able to fully transform himself: his breathing evened out, his pacing was cool and collected, and there wasn't even a hint of terror on his face._

_He had put on his A persona._

_He looked over to the struggle before him, and resisted the urge to scream. Spencer was barely holding on, merely gripping the wooden platform by the tips of her bony fingers, while Ian was getting ready to remove them, one by one, without even a speck of mercy._

_Ezra proceeded forward at a fast walk. Showtime._

_The floorboards creaked under Ezra's weight, and Ian looked up. The murder in his eyes had transmitted to sheer confusion... and terror._

_"What are you doing here?"_

_Those were the last words he would ever speak, because with that, Ezra proceeded forward with as much force as he could muster - that is, as much as his toothpick arms, that hadn't been put to good use since high school gym, could muster - and Ian went falling, letting out a long scream along the way, only to be silenced by the impact of the church bell, swinging back and forth as it let out deafening tones._

_He didn't even stop to check up on Spencer, to hold her shaking frame, to wipe away her tears. That wasn't what he was there for. He didn't care that she was in a fragile state._

_He cared about the information that she held, even in that fragile state._

_She was alive, and she could reveal a lot to him about Alison._

_That was all that mattered._

_So with that, Ezra moved on._

* * *

Aria kept her eyes firmly on the road as she drove down the streets of Rosewood, deciding that focusing on driving was the best way to distract herself from how horrid her day had been. All of the classes that she had with either of the girls, she had tried her best to keep her distance, but that had been incredibly hard. In history, she had had to rely on her own notes during class instead of looking off of Spencer's, and for a lab in chem, where she and Emily had always been partners, she had paired up with Joyce Hummer, whose hair needed a good brush and who always smelled like the worst combination of garden mulch, gym socks, and the cinnamon gum she was always chewing. Also, she missed her friends, and would give anything to see Hanna's bright smile or get a glance of one of Spencer's "Hastings faces".

Even so, she was still incredibly angry with the girls for accusing Ezra. Ezra _couldn't_ be behind all of this. He _wouldn't_. It was near impossible, especially considering that he could barely work the zipper on his own pants, much less the factory's worth of technological equipment the girls had seen in the lair.

But then again, maybe that was what Lucas was for, before he had dropped off of the face of the earth...

Aria brought her sweaty palm up to her forehead. Now _she_ was caught thinking it? Ezra loved her, why would he try to hurt her like that? Hurt her _friends_ like that? Nothing made any sense anymore...

There was a car honk, and as soon as Aria blinked she found herself swerving the car back onto her side of the road. Great, now she could hardly _drive_ straight since she was so caught up in her own thoughts. And to make matters worse, when she looked at where she was, she realized she had taken a wrong turn. Instead of her own small, dark, bohemian-style house before her, she was staring at a line up of equestrian houses with long iron gates and flower gardens of multiple assortments that were so typically... _Rosewood_.

Aria sighed. She had turned onto _this_ side of town. More specifically, she had turned onto Spencer's street.

_Better get out before she sees me,_ Aria thought to herself frustratedly as she put on her turn signal and maneuvered the steering wheel so that she had fully turned the car around, but before she could race out of the neighborhood she heard someone call her name.

Aria screeched to a stop as she turned to her right, and suppressed a groan as she saw who was approaching her.

Mrs. DiLaurentis, wearing a pair of garden gloves and sunglasses, waved her hand high up in the air as she came running through the grass to meet Aria.

At first Aria just felt awkward, but as Mrs. DiLaurentis came closer she felt slightly terrified. Mrs. DiLaurentis was completely unaware of the fact that her own daughter was alive, information that Aria knew. What if she slipped up? Or even worse, what if Mrs. D _found out_ later and lashed out at Aria for not saying anything?

But before Aria could ponder over this any further, she heard a fierce tapping on her car window and had to force herself to face it. She rolled down the window and stuck her head out of it. "Hi, Mrs. DiLaurentis!"

"Aria!" she said warmly, a wide - almost _too_ wide - smile on her face. "It's so nice to see you. Are you here to visit Spencer?"

"Oh, no," Aria said half-heartedly, trying not to reveal anything in her tone of voice. "I was heading home, but made a wrong turn. But I should get going now - "

"Nonsense!" Mrs. DiLaurentis flung her hand through the air like this was the most ridiculous thing she'd ever heard. "We should be seizing this opportunity! Come on in, we'll have lunch."

"Oh... thank you," Aria said warily as she tried to come up with any type of excuse in her head. "But I really should be getting home."

"Oh please, dear, it won't take long!"

"I already ate lunch at school though," Aria said hastily, deciding on a last ditch attempt, but Mrs. DiLaurentis still wasn't budging.

"That shouldn't stop you!" Mrs. DiLaurentis said. "In the case of 'Hefty Hanna', maybe, but you actually could use some meat on your bones!"

As Aria paused, playing back the last sentence in her head in search for anything that _wasn't_ offensive, Mrs. DiLaurentis was already walking back toward the house, gesturing for her to join. Finally, Aria sighed, put her car in park at the side of the street, and exited it as she entered the house of her old best friend, trying to erase the memory in her mind of how she had nearly lost an eye the last time she had been there.

"You can hang your coat up there and wash up upstairs if you need to," Mrs. DiLaurentis said. "I'll make us some sandwiches."  
"Thank you, Mrs. DiLaurentis," Aria said politely, only to be met with a savory smile from the woman.

"After all this time, I think you can call me Jessica," she said sweetly. Aria attempted not to grimace back as she went up the stairs, trying hard not to puke everywhere at the thought of calling Ali's mom _Jessica_.

Once she reached the top, she walked over to the bathroom, immediately remembering where it was, but on the way over she stopped.

A little further down the hall from the bathroom was a bedroom. A bedroom that she knew like the back of her hand. A bedroom she hadn't seen in 3 years.

Alison's bedroom.

Calculating in her head how long it would take Mrs. DiLaurentis to make a plate of sandwiches, and ultimately deciding on 6 minutes when she put in her remembering that Aria was a vegetarian and having to remove any cold cuts she had already put on bread, Aria creeped down the hall into the bedroom.

The sight was enough to take her breath away. The walls were coated in a shade of pink as always, but the room didn't have the same amount of _life_ that it did when Alison was still around. It seemed so cold, so empty. The bed was made, with a striped, brightly colored bedspread on top, and the closet was open, displaying any clothes of which she guessed Ali's mother was too attached to hand over to Goodwill.

Aria gulped loudly as she put a hand up to her heart, as though she were protecting it. The room looked just the same as it always did. Although, there were some things that she hadn't taken the time to notice three years ago. For one, behind the curtain on the window was a stain glass stick-on that she remembered making with Ali during an art class they shared in middle school. And for another, there was a stack of old '80s movies behind the lamp on her dresser that Aria remembered watching on their weekly movie nights.

Aria went over to the dresser and ran her hand along the edges of the stack of movies like _Sixteen Candles_, _The Breakfast Club,_ and _Pretty in Pink,_ ignoring the layer of dust she was collecting. She couldn't believe Ali might have cherished those memories as much as she had enough to keep them all in one place.

Maybe she wasn't so bad after all...

Deciding she had had a large enough dosage of Alison's old bedroom, Aria started to walk out, but when she took a step, she stepped on something... odd.

There was a creak, and when Aria looked down she realized the floorboards were uneven. At first she was caught off guard, but after remembering what Alison was like and how _secretive_ she could be, she was able to easily predict what it was used for.

Aria leaned down and removed the floorboard, and sure enough, there was a box in there. She reached in and picked up the box, doing some mental math to conclude that she had about 3 minutes left until Mrs. D was finished with the sandwiches.

She removed the lid of the box and was met with the sight of several trinkets, all which were probably important to Alison in some way. Birthday cards, a wallet, friendship bracelets, and one particularly chunky necklace, but as Aria sifted through she realized that it went even deeper. She fished around in the box, trying to get her hands on anything good, but she wasn't feeling anything solid until she felt something smooth, almost like glass.

Grinning victoriously, Aria stuck her other hand in to pull out a square, wooden frame, but when she caught sight of the picture in the frame, her grin disappeared and her stomach lurched.

Alison was in the picture, naturally, her blue eyes shining, her golden locks billowing in the wind, and her white teeth glistening. Aria would've bet anything that she had whitened them right before this picture. Her hands, with nails painted hot pink, were intertwined with someone elses, and that person was looking back at her in just as loving of a way.

Ezra, wearing a salmon shirt and looking happier than he'd ever looked, was in the picture. Ezra, her Ezra, was holding hands with Alison and smiling. Aria, with shaking hands, set the picture down as she took a closer look through the box again. She got her hands around one of the birthday cards, and opened it.

* * *

_You were never one for poetry, but you always loved to talk. I can't think of any other way to describe our time together, and I truly hope this lasts for as long as it can go._

_I love you, Alison._

_-Board Shorts_

* * *

Inside of the card was a folded up piece of paper, which Aria carefully unfolded. After reading the first three lines, she let out a gasp.

* * *

_It's a number._

_It's a song._

_It's a girl._

* * *

"B-26," Aria croaked as the realization hit her. She didn't need to read the rest of the poem; she had already memorized it, and could spit it out like she could spit out the quadratic formula or Louisa May Alcott's famous last words noted in her biography that Aria had read in eighth grade.

She knew it because it had once been given to her. She had spent a great amount of time in her life thinking it was _her_ poem, something _she_ shared with _her_ boyfriend.

But she didn't. It wasn't hers to keep. This was _Alison's_ poem, and it was given to _her_ by _her_ boyfriend. Board Shorts.

And Board Shorts and Ezra were one in the same.

And that could only mean...

Suddenly feeling like she couldn't be in the room anymore, Aria packed up the box, shoved it back in the cubby under the floor, and slammed the floorboard back onto it. She hastily tucked the frame and the card under her shirt as she blankly walked down the stairs, hardly able to see through the black spots in her vision. Once she got down the stairs, she started to put on her coat, but she was stopped by someone.

"Where are you going, dear?" Mrs. DiLaurentis said, a plate of cut up sandwiches before her. "I was just going to put out the salsa dip!"

Aria winced. Crap. She'd forgotten.

"I'm sorry, but I really should be going," she said apologetically. "I'm suddenly really not feeling well."

Upon hearing this, Mrs. DiLaurentis's face fell. "You do look a little pale," she said sympathetically. "Are you alright with driving? Do you want me to take you home?"

"I can manage," Aria said hastily, her hand already on the door knob, as she wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. "Thank you for taking the time to make the sandwiches, though."

"Take one with you!" Mrs. D insisted, holding the plate out. "It'll help you feel better!"

Finally deciding on taking a couple of sandwiches from the plate to satisfy Alison's mother, Aria raced out the door, trying her hardest to keep her balance as she made the journey from the front door to her car. Once she got there, she placed the sandwiches, the frame, and the card in the passenger seat and took several deep breaths at her discovery. She looked down at her hands and realized that they were still shaking, and when she looked even further down she realized her legs were shaking just as bad. _Was_ she alright with driving?

Taking one final breath and swallowing back a river flow of tears, Aria started up the engine, ultimately deciding that yes, she would be alright driving. And she knew exactly what her destination in mind was, too.

* * *

**Oh man... the truth is out now. I think you all can guess where Aria is going, but I want to hear what you think is going to happen next chapter. Sound off in the reviews!**


	14. Chapter 14

**You wonderful people are SO CLOSE to getting me to 100 reviews! That is so cool to me, you guys really are wonderful. I'm really sorry for your poor hearts and what I'm about to do to them! (Seriously, though, you thought LAST chapter is bad? This chapter is gonna be even worse for your soul...)**

**Immissone: You'll see a reunion with the girls shortly! Thanks for reviewing!  
ComeOnWe'reTeamSparia: In ALL of our minds she's going to Spencer's, hahaha. But no, I wish. She's going somewhere else ;) and I feel bad about how emotional you got at the last chapter, because that means this chapter is definitely going to break you 0.o  
Guest: Thank you so much! Another update coming your way :)  
eveningshades1107: Let's be real, reading ShadowsOnTheMoon fics should be, like, a video game. "Stay out of the vortex of darkness as long as you can." It would be one of those games at the mall that nobody would win, because it's IMPOSSIBLE, haha. And seriously, WHY is there no naked Ian Harding on our screens? A question I ask myself every day. And as for B-26, oh but I did. I guess I would've thought otherwise if I had known people were gonna get so angry! Oh who am I kidding, no I wouldn't have. I never think otherwise.  
Ava B: For this next chapter, you're gonna want to hold your breath even longer, because damn... thanks for the review!  
prettylittleliars39464: Yes, she does know :( thank you so much! I try really hard to make sure everything fits  
TeamEmayaForever: Well, this story is prewritten, but this next chapter is pretty long I'd like to think! Something major happens, so that's the main reason.  
Arcawolf: Yes, something terrible is about to happen, you are correct. And I'm glad you liked it! Hopefully you'll like this next chapter even more!  
Liz: Oh, I of all people know how annoying it is how people on this site portray Aria as weak, and I can tell you that is NOT what is going to happen here. Aria gets even stronger when she finds all of this out :)  
ShadowsOnTheMoon: Well, I think it's safe to say that your review scared the bejesus out of me because I thought you were serious (are you? I still can't tell) But happy birthday! And oh, but I can. I can change the meaning of anything I want. Know why? Because I am so stealing that crown :P  
xaviorismy1andonly3512: First of all, I sincerely hope I spelled that right. Second of all, good guess! Let's see if you're right :)  
missdallywatson: Thank you so much! I'm so happy you're enjoying it! And oh, you'll see what happens next in this upcoming chapter, but I'm not sure how much you want to...  
Aj: Thank you so much! This story is prewritten, so unfortunately I can't take those suggestions into account at the moment, but who's to say I haven't already? ;)**

**Alright, now for the chapter. Seriously, guys, prepare yourself, because you're going to be trapped in a whirlwind of feels, and I'm very concerned for all of your wellbeings. Good luck, and see you on the other side :)**

* * *

Aria marched down the hallway of Rosewood High at the quickest walking pace she could manage, feeling like a crock pot boiling over with water, only instead of water the pot was filled with emotions. She was feeling every horrible emotion possible at the moment: sad, angry, hurt, betrayed, and desperate.

She was desperate for him to prove her wrong.

When she got to the classroom, the door was closed, but that didn't stop her. Aria all but kicked the door open so that she was standing in the doorway, hand on the door handle and feet planted firmly on the ground.

Ezra was sitting at his desk, calmly putting pen to paper as he made some markings on an essay a student had written, but he jumped when he heard the door open. When he rotated his body to face it, the startled look on his face transposed into that of a smile at the sight of Aria.

"Aria!" he chirped brightly. "What are you doing here?"

Feeling steam coming out of her ears, Aria immediately strutted up to the desk, raised her hand, and gave Ezra a good smack across the cheek.

Ezra flinched, his face robotically turning to the side and his eyes popping out of his head. He touched his cheek a second later, and winced as he felt something warm and sticky on it. After he brought his hand down to examine the blood on it, he shot his gaze back upward. "What the hell was that for?"

"Don't act like you don't know," Aria growled, and before Ezra could make a lame attempt at playing dumb, she pulled the frame from behind her back, nearly shoving it into Ezra's face. He glanced down at it, confused at first, but when Aria looked closely she saw the fear in his eyes.

He looked back up at her, at a loss for words. "I... I'm guessing you're not here to talk about the homework assignment, are you?"

Aria shook her head, but then stopped when the anger in her heart made her nearly dizzy. Once her vision was back in focus, she gave him the deepest glare that she could. "Ezra, do you know how long we dated for?"

Ezra sighed and nodded his head. "A year and four months."

"Right," Aria sneered. "A year and four months we dated, and it never even _occurred _to you to tell me that you once dated my best friend?"

Ezra brought a hand up to his face, as if it would mask his shame and bewilderment. _How_ was this happening? "I... I saw how you had reacted with Jackie and Maggie - "

"This should've been well known information even _before_ Jackie and Maggie, Ezra!" Aria shouted, her tongue clicking against her teeth with perfect accuracy as the anger-filled words flowed out of her mouth. "You knew when you came to her funeral that I was friends with her, and immediately after that we started seeing each other! _Then_ would've been a good time to tell me!"

Ezra removed his head from his hands as he looked up at her with his soft eyes, as though his uncanny resemblance to a baby lamb would help the situation. "Aria, we've been broken up for a while now. Why does this concern any of us?"

"Yeah, I'm sure breaking up with me was _amazing_ for freeing up your schedule, wasn't it?" Aria seethed, and upon hearing these words Ezra stiffened. The minor shift in his posture nearly assured Aria that her horrid assumption was correct.

But there was still time for him to say otherwise.

She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply through her nose, and then let it all out through her mouth. She knew she had to say the next part. She had to get it overwith. She had to _know_.

"I'm going to ask you a question, and I want you to be honest with me," she whispered so quietly that Ezra had to strain his ears to be able to hear. But when he heard what she said next, he wished he hadn't listened so carefully.

"Ezra, are you A?"

Ezra didn't move. Not a flinch, not an eyebrow raise, he didn't even breathe. But after what seemed like hours passed, he slowly, and very subtly, nodded his head.

Aria drew in a sharp breath, her heart dramatically slowing down at the small gesture. Was she going to faint? The room was suddenly spinning, and she had to press her hands to the surface of the desk to keep herself from falling over. Ezra didn't make a move to comfort her like he usually would. This was _definitely_ not the time.

"You were never supposed to find out," he said quietly, but when she looked up to give him the most fury-filled look she had to offer, he quickly realized this was not something he should've said out loud.

"Wrong answer," she said, glowering, and Ezra nearly backed his chair into a wall. Aria had never looked so... _scary_ before.

"How about you tell me this, though," she spoke again, and as she said this she lowered her body, crouching over his desk so that she was right in front of his face. She almost laughed at the sound of him swallowing; how could someone so _powerful_ be such a _coward?_

Collecting her thoughts, she continued. "All of that time that we were together, why didn't you do anything to me?" she said softly, making her words sound ten times more powerful as they cut through the room like a razor blade. "You went out of your way to hurt all of my friends, but you hardly laid a finger on me when you _easily_ could have. Why is that?"

Ezra opened his mouth to answer, but he found he couldn't speak. He had nightmares about the day Aria found out about his double life, but he never _dreamed _that it would be like this.

"All of those chances to hurt me, and you didn't take _one_. But why? Why did I get to go off scott free while my friends were in so much danger? What makes ME so special? You could've easily wrapped your hands around my neck while we were _sitting around in your apartment eating cake_, but you decided not to. But _why_, Ezra? _WHY?_"

Ezra found that he couldn't look at Aria while she was interrogating him like this, so he averted his eyes toward the exit sign above the door in a fixed gaze. Aria scoffed, then took a trembling hand toward his chin, gripping it _hard_ as she forced him to look at her.

"Hit me," she whispered, and Ezra blinked, taken aback. "What?"

"I said _hit me_," Aria elaborated. Ezra found that he couldn't even respond. What was he to do? Was he supposed to hit her? Aria was one of the more persistent of the girls, and he knew that she would go at this all day if she had to.

"Hit me, Ezra," she growled, although he noted her getting more desperate now. "What are you waiting for? Now's your chance, I am _giving it_ to you. You've never held back with the others."

Ezra swallowed, caught between a rock and a hard place. But Aria wasn't leaving without some sort of reaction, so she kept going.

"I said _hit me_. Do it, right now. Ezra, hit me. Do _something._ I am giving you the opportunity to do whatever you want to me. _Hurt_ me. Any type of torture you can think of. Ezra, HIT ME!"

Ezra just kept staring ahead, hoping she would give up and go away, but she didn't. She was screaming now, and she wasn't going to stop anytime soon.

"WHY DON'T YOU SAY SOMETHING? DO SOMETHING? EZRA, HIT ME! EZRA! DON'T JUST STAND THERE AND DO NOTHING, _HIT ME!_"

Finally, Ezra snapped. He shot up from his chair, sending it flying into the chalkboard, and then grasped Aria's shoulders. She yelped, but he ignored it as he forced her into a wall.

"Is this what you wanted?" Ezra hissed into her face, trying to remain immune to the terror in her doe eyes. "Were you lonely without all of the attention? _Is this what you signed up for?_"

"S-s-so it's true," Aria stammered, staring at him with all of the hate that she had to offer, hate she never thought would be directed toward him.

Ezra was breathing heavily as he snaked his arms up to her neck, grasping it firmly. Aria coughed and sputtered, gasping for air, but this only made Ezra, running on pure adrenaline, choke her even harder. "I've been waiting for this moment," he said hungrily. "All I've ever wanted was to see you suffer, and now I can go through with it."

"Are you going to kill me like you tried to kill Alison?" she gasped, and this almost made Ezra loosen his grip slightly. How much did she _know_?

"You think you're so clever," he growled into her face, trying to ignore the tears streaming down it. "You think you know so much, but you know _nothing!_"

"There are teachers still in this school," Aria sputtered out threateningly as she continued coughing for air. "I'll scream, I'll do it."

Ezra's eyes widened. If Aria screamed, he would lose his job. He would go to jail for assaulting a student! The A team would fall apart, everything would be ruined, and he couldn't let that happen. But if he let her go, she'd run off and tell the others.

What happened next, as Ezra contemplated all of this, went by too quickly for him to even be able to properly recount.

Aria, using the little bit of energy she had left, rammed her head upwards into Ezra's skull. Ezra stumbled backwards, his head throbbing, but once he reoriented himself, Aria was gone.

_Shit!_ he thought frantically as he noted the now opened door, and then raced through it, trying to catch up to her and see where she went. He heard footsteps over to his right, but they could've easily come from the left when taking acoustics into account. He ultimately decided on running to the right, darting down the hall as fast as his legs could carry him, but after running a full circle around the bottom level of the school, he couldn't find Aria anywhere.

She was gone.

Furious, Ezra kicked the nearest locker door in frustration. How could he have let her escape? How could he have _exploded _at her like that? If she would just let him _explain_...

No. There wasn't room for explaining anything anymore. He had potentially screwed everything up for Mona, for Cece, for everyone on the team.

But mainly, he had screwed things up for himself. Like Humpty Dumpty, this mess couldn't be put back together again.

He had gone in too deep this time.

* * *

Meanwhile, Aria had run out of the school at a solid 30 miles an hour, adrenaline rushing through her veins and tears welling up in her throat. She didn't have a destination in mind, but she ran in a straight line down a sidewalk path. Eventually, though, the sidewalk ended, and she felt leaves crunching underneath her feet. Soon, she was out of breath, and knew that if she took another step her lungs would burst everywhere, so she stopped. Her breathing hastened, and wouldn't slow down even when she looked behind her and saw that no one had followed her. Soon, her breathing heightened to full out hyperventilating, and she found that her legs could no longer carry her. She sank to her knees as her vision blurred and her stomach lurched, and she suddenly felt so very far away. She could hardly see directly in front of her due to the tears clouding her vision, and everything before her seemed as though she were observing it from a distant location.

She was having a panic attack.

Slowly, Aria brought her knees up to her face, sinking her head into her lap as she broke out into long, loud sobs, her little body quivering as she sank even further to the ground. She was in a ball now, her knees curled into her chest as she cried and cried. She thought her heart might give out, but it never did. She thought she might pass out, but she didn't for a long time.

She simply lay on the ground, tears streaming down her face as the same three words reverberated throughout her mind for the next several hours.

_Ezra. Is. A._

* * *

**Sorry for any errors, I am literally posting this and then I have to race out the door. But hopefully you liked this chapter, hopefully you're still ****_breathing_**** after reading it, and don't forget to leave a review! Oh, and keep an eye out for the first chapter of my Haleb fic this evening!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Wow! The response from the last chapter was amazing. I'm officially past 100 reviews! It makes me feel that much worse about what I'm going to do to all of your hearts coming up! That chapter got the most reviews so far this story, thank you all so much for your support. I would reply to them all, but 1) there were so many, and 2) they all said around the same thing: poor Aria, EzrA deserves to have his ass kicked for hurting her, what's going to happen next, that sort of thing. So without further ado, I present to you that sort of thing: the next chapter. Enjoy!**

* * *

Emily poured a full bag of freshly popped popcorn into the plastic bowl in front of her as she kept a close eye on the clock. It was quarter to six. Paige was coming over any minute for a girls night, and Emily had pulled out seasons three and four of _Skins_ so she and Paige could watch through their favorites. But even after Emily had got out all of the sodas, set up the TV, and put on a comfy pair of pajama bottoms and a baggy t-shirt, Paige hadn't arrived. It was getting dark out, and Emily was starting to get worried, until her phone chimed.

Emily slid her black locks behind her ear as she reached down for her phone, and let a smile creep across her face as Paige's name flashed across the screen. She pressed a button and put the phone up to her ear as she sat down on the couch. "Hey, I was getting worried. Where are you? Naomily is waiting!"

"_Emily, we're going to have to reschedule on that_," Paige said into the phone, and when Emily heard Paige's loud panting into the phone she immediately sat up.

"Paige, what's wrong?" Emily asked worriedly. "Where are you?"

"_I was headed over to your house on my bike_," Paige recounted, "_but Spencer stopped me. She came running up to me in tears_."

"What?!" Emily was standing now. "What happened to Spencer?"

"_It's not Spencer_." Paige took this time to swallow loudly. "_It's Aria_."

Emily's heart sank. She wasn't okay with any of the girls being hurt in any way, but after what they had found out over the weekend, anything happening to Aria specifically was not a good sign. "What happened?"

"_We don't know where she is_," Paige said worriedly. "_Spencer said she went over to her house after school to try and work out a fight they had, but Aria wasn't there. She's not at school, she's not at the Brew, she's not at home, she's nowhere. Spencer's calling Hanna, and she wanted me to call you_."

"Oh no," Emily whispered as she put an ice cold hand up to her forehead. "This is not good."

"_Emily, what's going on_?" Paige asked seriously into the phone. "_What could've happened between you guys and Aria that made her run off like that_?"

"I have a feeling it didn't have anything to do with us," Emily said morbidly into the phone as she started rummaging for her jacket. "Where are you guys? I'm coming right now."

"_We're at Spencer's house, but Emily_ - "

Emily didn't get to hear what Paige had to say next. She had already hung up the phone before slipping on her nearest sneakers and dashing out of the door.

* * *

Darkness. There was nothing but darkness in Aria's vision. Even when she managed to open her eyes the slightest bit, there was still darkness.

But maybe she hadn't opened her eyes at all. After all, she had forgotten for a period of time what it was like to _feel_. But as the numbness escaped her, her head started throbbing and her pulse started rushing. She removed her hand from around her stomach and pressed it to the ground, feeling the coarse veins of fallen leaves and gravelly dirt between her fingers. She then moved her hand from the ground across the dirt and up to her thigh, where she had stuck a finger through a large hole in her leggings where the seams had been pulled, most likely from scratching them against a tree root. But most unusual, and most important, of all, Aria felt hot breath on her face.

Finally gaining the courage to face the world around her, Aria let her eyes flutter open. But when she adjusted her vision into focus, she gasped, immediately backing up into the tree trunk behind her.

"Alison," she squeaked, staring at the blue-eyed blonde before her, cloaked in her notorious red coat.

Alison simply gave her a sad smile. "I keep trying to stay away from you girls," she said grimly, "but somehow I keep coming back."

Aria blinked several times, even while rubbing her eyes to make sure the scene before her was real. But deep down, she knew it was. The girls had to constantly remind themselves that Alison was alive, and that any interactions were most likely not hallucinations.

Alison just kept her sad smile on her face as she rubbed Aria's now scratched up knee. "Look, I don't have much time - "

"That's what you said last time," Aria interrupted, now aware of her surroundings. "I'm... I'm not going to let you go this time."

Alison continued to smile, but there was a new speck of light in her eyes that changed the smile. The light was one of amusement, and Aria now saw that she was looking at her out of _sympathy_.

Aria was all-too-familiar with that look. It was the look Alison used to always give her; like she was the most pathetic little thing on the planet. Aria used to accept it before, but not now.

After holding that look for several moments, Alison started to take off, but Aria got a hold of her hand before she could. Despite how weak she felt, Aria also felt a surge of strength as she managed to pull Alison back down to the ground.

"I _said_ I'm not letting you go," Aria repeated more firmly.

"Aria - "

"Don't pull any crap on me, Alison," Aria interrupted. "You were real sly freshman year, blackmailing me _and_ my dad to get what you wanted, but I'm not the timid little girl I was back then. I'm not letting you go until you give me a solid explanation for everything that has happened for the past 2 years."

Alison's smile had completely diminished by this point as she sat down on the ground, her legs crossed as she stared directly across from her, her dark blue eyes meeting Aria's hazel ones.

"You're right," she said softly. "I can't get away with treating you all the way I used to. But there's still so much that I can't give away."

"Why not?"

"Because it's not safe!" Alison hissed, but Aria detected a worry in her voice that she wasn't used to.

While trying to be somewhat cautious in her approach, Aria still continued to pester Alison. "You knew all along that Ezra was A, yet you sat back and _watched_ him cuddle up to me all of those times," Aria said brokenly. "Didn't it occur to you that I was in danger? That _all_ of us were in danger? Did you even care about us at _all?"_

"Of course I cared about you!" Alison said defensively. "In truth, you girls were the best friends I could've ever asked for!"

"You sure went out of your way to let us know that," Aria snapped, but Alison still remained calm throughout their exchange.

"I'm not proud of the way I acted then," Alison said carefully, "but you have to understand that I was in danger, too. And I still am!"

Aria put a hand, frozen from the January air, up to her forehead, as she tried to process everything. "I get that everything you did before was out of self-preservation," she said reasonably, "but we all know who you are now. You can tell us!"

"Trust me, Aria, this is for your own good," Alison said darkly. "If A figures out what you know, you'll be as deep into the danger zone as I am."

"I'm _already_ deep in the danger zone!" Aria said exasperatedly. "I have nothing to lose here!"

"A always finds a way of taking more, right?" Alison said wisely, and in response Aria simply slumped deeper into her repose. There was no way she could break Alison out of her cryptic phrasing. No matter how hard she tried, there was no way of getting information out of her old best friend.

But as Aria looked down to her knees, she felt a hand reach for her knotted hair, stroking it caringly, and when she looked up she recognized Alison's manicured fingers again.

Exactly _when_ did she have time to get a manicure throughout this entire scheme?

"You know why I picked you, right?" Alison asked quizzically, and Aria sighed. So they were revisiting this question again? She still hadn't figured it out.

Aria slowly shook her head, so Alison crouched down beside her. "You and I are a lot alike, Aria," she said knowingly. "You may not see it, but I see a lot of myself in you. We're both smart and persistent, and not to mention obsessed with our own precocity - "

"_Ali_," Aria interrupted tiredly. "Please skip to the point."

Alison smiled as she went back to stroking Aria's hair. "We're also both _passionate_," she continued. "And with passion comes _loyalty._ I knew when I met you that if I was in a situation... well, like this one, I could count on you to get me out of it."

Aria lay back against the tree trunk as she looked up at Alison. The light from the moon coming through the trees gave her an ethereal glow, making her question whether this was real or not. But as she looked closer, she saw how much, if this was indeed real, Alison had grown. How worn, how corrupted, how _sad_ she had become. She was a completely different person from the lively, carefree 14-year-old the girls had come to adore, while still hate at the same time.

All Alison wanted was to come home, and Aria was holding her back.

"I'm not doing a very good job then, am I?" she croaked, tears finally meeting her eyes as she looked up apologetically at her best friend who was so close, yet so distant from her. But Alison was unphased.

"There's still time," she said assuringly. "You can still save me, and yourselves."

"How?" Aria asked desperately.

Alison shrugged at this, raising her eyebrows up to her forehead and upticking the corners of her mouth to indicate that she wasn't the one who could directly answer this. But she was Alison, so she could never really directly answer _anything._

"You said it yourself, though," she pointed out. "You're not the timid little girl anymore who would rather make use of herself as a doormat than stand up for herself. Now, you have the potential to stop A."

"But A is too powerful," Aria whispered as Alison snaked her arm around Aria's shoulders, now rubbing her back. This had to have been the most care Alison had shown any of the girls at any point in their lives. "I can't possibly stop them by myself."

Alison did something unexpected then; she laughed. She was actually laughing at Aria when she was going through so much pain, so much trauma. But then her laughter stopped as she got back onto her knees and grabbed Aria by the shoulders.

"I know I taught you better than that," was the last thing she said to Aria, before the sound of a twig snapping in the distance sent her to her feet and dashing further into the woods. One minute she was there, and by the time Aria so much as blinked, she was gone. Shocked, and still not entirely with it, Aria shot to her feet, eyes grazing the forest for any splashes of red in the dark - what _time_ was it? - but at the sight of a moving red hood travelling through the trees she was off.

She raced through the trees, as fast as her weak and scratched-up legs could carry her, but no matter how fast she ran she couldn't seem to catch up to Alison.

_Snap_.

Her vision was blurring, and even quick splotches of red that she spotted through the trees didn't seem legitimate. She no longer knew where she was, or _who_ she was, and the previous exchange went clear over her head. She was overwhelmed, confused, and so, so tired.

_Crunch._

The world was moving too quickly for her to catch up, and everything surrounding her was oblivious to her heart crumbling to her feet. Tears started to meet her eyes again, but she fiercely wiped them away as she continued her search.

_Snap_.

She heard twigs snapping, leaves crunching, and footsteps getting closer and closer to her, but she tried not to give into her thumping heart as she continued her search for the Girl in the Red Coat, the girl who could answer all of their pressing questions, the girl who was the main reason they were in this situation in the first place.

The girl who went by the name of Alison DiLaurentis.

_OOMF!_

Aria stumbled backward as she ran into something, or _someone_, hard, but didn't even give herself time to look; she simply kept going. But she recoiled when a hand grabbed her frail arm, pulling her back.

Aria screamed as she tried to break free, but she forced herself to remain quiet at the sound of someone shushing her as they attempted to pull her back while saying her name over and over again.

Aria finally looked straight out in front of her to see a tall, slim frame, only this one was more girlish than the one she was afraid of. As she managed to focus her vision to see through the dark, she realized she was staring into a pair of concerned, caramel eyes that she had stared into so many times before.

"Shh, it's okay," Spencer said as she pulled Aria close, encouraging her to breathe, one shaky breath at a time. "It's okay, it's only me."

Aria continued to breathe in and out for a few more moments, but she wouldn't allow herself any more time to rest. She pried herself out of Spencer's arms as she started to run off again, but Spencer was too quick for her.

"Aria, stop," she said frantically. "Where are you going?"

"Alison was here," she said, sounding nearly crazed. "I saw her, and w-w-we talked, and she was here, and now I don't know where she is. Spencer, we need to find her!"

"Aria, not now."

"How can you say that?" Aria asked desperately. "She knows so much, Spencer, and she can tell us _so much!_ You know! You saw her, too!"

"I know, Aria, but we'll worry about that later."

"Spencer, we have to save her," Aria pleaded, tears now streaming down her face as she kept trying to yank herself free from Spencer's grasp. "All she wants is to come home. We can't let her escape again!"

"Aria, I'm trying not to let _you_ escape again!"

Finally, Aria let these words sink into her skin as she looked up at Spencer, and saw that Spencer was staring back at her with a pleading look of her own.

Spencer let out a small sob that could've easily been mistaken for a hiccup. "Aria, I've been searching for you for _hours_," she said tearfully. "You've been out here, in the cold, without even a jacket, for _hours_."

"Spence, I'm fine - "

"No, you're not!" Spencer cried, begging for Aria to listen. "You're _shivering,_ Aria, you're just so worked up that you can't even see it!"

Aria looked up at Spencer in confusion, but then looked down to see that her legs, her hands, her entire body was trembling from the terrible, terrible cold. She looked back up at Spencer, whose breath was totally visible in the icy night air as she continued to cry.

"No matter what happens, we're always going to put each other first," she croaked. "Everything else we can put on hold for at least a little bit, okay? For now, all I'm concerned about is _you_. If _you're_ not safe, then I don't care about anything else that _is_. I can't risk losing you again. Not after tonight."

Aria just continued to gawk up at Spencer in awe, at a complete loss for words, but Spencer simply kept crying.

"P-p-please," Spencer finally stuttered out as the last bit of tears finally trickled down the frame of her porcelain face. "Please just come home with me."

As Aria looked up at Spencer, one of her best friends in the world, she felt even more drained than she had before. All of the adrenaline contained within her was lost, leaving her cold and tired and heartbroken, but she supposed a blanket and some of Spencer's hot chocolate could _somewhat_ cure that.

At last, leaving Spencer feeling completely relieved, Aria nodded her head and let Spencer lead her to her car.

* * *

**Sparia is perfect, that's all I'm going to say. If you guys liked this chapter, you know the drill: review/follow/favorite/WHATEVER! See you all tomorrow, OR, if you're reading my Haleb story, I'll see you all later tonight!**


	16. Chapter 16

**You guys are awesome, but I mean you already knew that. I want to reply to all of your reviews, but this next chapter is just so long and exciting that I just want to get straight to it! But know that I read all of them, and my emotions while reading them ranged from crying from either laughter or feels OR smiling so big that my teeth could light the Eastern Sea Board (Get it? Heh? Yeah.)**

**A lot of you were VERY excited to see the Sparia (Good. Y'all are my type of people), and I can tell you that these next two chapters are going to be VERY heavy on the Sparia, so hopefully you'll enjoy that. And for the guest reviewer who asked for Hannily as well, they have some cute moments coming up! So stay tuned, and get your nightlights out, because the lights are slowly starting to dim in this plot line, and it's going to go from, in the words of ShadowsOnTheMoon, "dark to pitch black." PS: We'll see who gets the crown in the end. The fact that you're so scared is a VERY good sign for me :P**

**And without further ado, here's a very OT4 heavy chapter for you all, so enjoy, and don't forget to review at the end! :)**

* * *

_Ezra walked briskly down the aisle, occasionally rotating his body 90 degrees in order not to hit anyone. On the outside, he looked very confident; it was his junior year at Hollis, and he was going for the 'spirited, ambitious student' look. Maroon Hollis t-shirt, grey, unzipped hoodie, and dark-washed jeans with a bootcut flare at the end. But deep down, his stomach was doing somersaults. He was about to do something big. He knew that this could all go horribly wrong, but he had spent countless nights plotting it all out, making sure that nothing fell out of place, and as far as he could tell, nothing had._

_Now he just had to make sure that everyone that he needed to cooperate... cooperated._

_After weaving his way through the endless shelves, he finally reached the center of the library. Sitting at one of the square, wooden tables, wearing a slightly too big UPENN sweatshirt and flipping through what looked like a book, was the person he was looking for._

_Ezra cleared his throat as he walked up to the table. "Cece Drake?"_

_Cece rose her head, throwing her long blonde hair behind her shoulder, and then offered up a warm, yet surprisingly cold, smile. "Ezra Fitz?"_

_Ezra took a deep breath, taking it upon himself to pull up a chair. Maybe this would be easier than he originally thought._

_Cece studied him for a moment. "You know... you're cuter than your profile picture on the school's social networking site."_

_Ezra blushed at this comment. "Well, you're..." He racked his brain for anything flattering that he could contribute to the conversation. His eyes wandered up and down what he could see of her, but once he realized that would appear odd he raised them to eye level again. "Umm... you're certainly more studious than I originally thought."_

_Cece rolled her eyes as she lifted up the piece of literature, revealing that it wasn't a piece of literature at all; it was a Ralph Lauren catalogue._

_Ezra found that the color start to creep to his cheeks even faster. "Oh."_

_Cece just giggled. "Don't worry about it," she offered up. "Ever since that bitch got me kicked out of UPENN - which you obviously know about, otherwise you wouldn't be here - I've been neglecting studying completely and have been focusing on buying furniture."_

_Ezra nodded his head thoughtfully. "That sounds nice!"_

_Cece just rolled her eyes again. "Not nice enough," she mumbled, before leaning across the table, in an attempt to be secretive. "But you didn't ask me here to ask about my interior decorating, did you?"_

_Ezra shook his head in confirmation. "No, I did not."_

_"So... what are we here to discuss?"_

_"We have a lot in common, Cece," he offered up. "We both want a lot of the same things, and... want to get _rid_ of the same things."_

_Cece offered up the same smile that she did before, although this one was absent of warmth. Now, she showed cold, hard malice._

_Good. Ezra liked malice._

_And he liked malice even more when Cece spoke the two words that would put his plan into action._

_"I'm in."_

* * *

Emily carefully walked over to the couch as she cupped a mug filled with a steaming hot beverage in it. She then sat down, sinking into the cushions as she held the mug out. "Here, this'll warm you up."

Aria barely even acknowledged Emily's presence. She turned her head to the side, the rest of her body cocooned in a knit blanket, but she didn't say anything. She just stared at Emily with eyes that were normally bright and filled with hope, but now were dulled from the loss they contained. After a moment, she turned back to staring straight ahead into the fireplace.

Emily sighed sadly. "Aria, you were out there for a long time. You'll die of hypothermia if you don't get something warm in your body."

"Maybe she'll eat something," Hanna suggested, coming over to the couch with a cup of soup in her hands. She crouched in front of Aria, holding the spoon up for her to sip from, but Aria simply continued to stare emotionlessly ahead of her, still as a statue with the exception of the occasional shiver that coursed through her. "C'mon, Aria, it's your favorite! Tomato bisque, I went to a lot of trouble to make it."

"... You bought that from the store," Emily said bluntly, only to be hushed by Hanna. Aria didn't even look down to crack a smile at the exchange the way she normally did. The corners of her lips remained down, her solemn features illuminated by the crackling flames in the fireplace.

Finally, Hanna stood up from the ground. "Spencer!" she called. "She's won't eat, drink, or talk. It's hopeless."

Spencer took the tea kettle off of the stove before coming in from the kitchen. "Let me try," she said, her maternal instincts kicking in as she sat on the sofa next to Aria, a hand placed gently on her shoulder.

"Aria," she said slowly, "do you want to tell us what happened?"

Aria stayed silent as she continued to stare ahead into the fire. Spencer moved her hand from Aria's shoulder down to her back, rubbing calming circles on it. "You don't have to be afraid," she said quietly. "We're here for you, but we're just trying to get an idea of why you're so upset."

For a moment, Aria's mouth twitched, making it look like she was about to say something, but just as suddenly it became stationary again, an answer never escaping her lips. Spencer dropped her hands to her side, disappointed in the result, as she got up from the couch. She motioned for Emily and Hanna to come with, but just as soon as they were about to leave the couch, they heard something. And it was coming from Aria's mouth.

"What was that?" Hanna asked apprehensively, even if she had heard clearly the first time.

Aria swallowed loudly as she removed her eyes from the fire, looking up at the girls in complete terror, complete sadness. "You were right."

Spencer could feel her heart break at the words. She knew that Aria wasn't talking about a math problem or the date of Genghis Khan's death. This was something much more serious, something that Spencer actually wished she was _wrong_ about. "Oh, sweetie," she said tearfully as she walked over to the couch, wrapping her arms loosely around the smaller girl so as not to hurt her, as if Aria was the most easily breakable porcelain doll in the shop.

Emily and Hanna immediately joined in, dropping to the ground and comfortingly rubbing Aria's knees, which were still tucked underneath the blanket. "How'd you find out?" Emily asked warmly.

Aria cleared her throat, even though it did almost nothing to take out the hoarseness her voice had from screaming and crying so much. "Mrs. DiLaurentis invited me for lunch, and I snuck into Ali's bedroom... and I found a picture of the two of them, along with a card he signed as Board Shorts."

Hanna's expression fell. "But... there's still hope!" she said optimistically. "Caleb once went behind my back, but then he stopped once he found out he had feelings for me! And Toby was undercover in the A-team for a while, so it could be the same for Ezra!"

"This isn't like Caleb and Toby," Aria said monotonically as she pulled the blanket closer around her tiny frame. "They never tried to _attack_ you guys."

"WHAT?" all three of the other girls exclaimed, shocked at what Aria was suggesting. Aria sighed, figuring it was about time they knew, as she reached up for the collar of her sweatshirt - Spencer had offered her a change of clothes since what she was wearing earlier was covered in dirt and damp from the cold - and pulled it down, revealing a progression of blue and black spots that were clearly bruises. Spencer counted five on one side, and then five on the other, meaning they were fingerprints.

"Did Ezra do that to you?" Hanna asked timidly, in awe that the caring teacher they had all grown to love had tried to hurt one of them like that. Aria nodded as she pulled her sweatshirt back up to her neck.

"I thought of the possibility of him being in it to protect me," Aria went on, "but he's not. There's no _way_."

"But remember what you said before?" Emily prodded. "If he was really out to get you, he would've hurt you all of those times you were with him."

"No he wouldn't have," Aria said, and Emily narrowed her eyes in confusion.

"What do you - "

"If he had hurt me, there would've been questioning from the police," Aria pointed out morbidly. "And the police would question my _parents_, and if my parents saw that I was hurt they would immediately jump to the conclusion that Ezra had done it."

"Well, in this case he actually did," Hanna muttered. Emily swatted her, but Aria kept going.

"Yes, but not in the way they would've thought he did," she said. "They would tell the police about me and Ezra under the assumption that he had _raped_ me, and Ezra would've been arrested."

Aria then looked up at the girls with her clouded eyes. "You guys, his reasoning for not hurting me wasn't to protect me. He didn't hurt me to protect _himself_. He doesn't love me, and he never did."

Hanna opened her mouth to argue, but then stopped in her tracks when she found she couldn't say anything. Aria's assumption made a painful amount of sense. Instead of saying anything, she resorted to sitting up and giving Aria a big hug. Emily immediately joined in, as did Spencer. Aria's claustrophobia was flaring up and she immediately felt like she couldn't breathe, but she didn't say anything. She just let her friends hug her, grateful that she had such amazing people there for her.

Finally, Spencer let go. "Guys, this has gone too far," she said. "We _have_ to tell the police."

"No!" Aria squealed, leading to the other two pulling back as well. Emily wrinkled her forehead in suspicion.

"Aria, we have to - "

"No, we don't!" Aria said persistently. "Guys, don't you realize what A would do if we went to the police? Every time one of us has even _thought_ about telling someone about this in the past, it's blown up in our faces. A will make our lives miserable!"

"They won't get a chance to if they're locked up behind bars," Hanna said reasonably, but Aria wasn't changing her mind anytime soon.

"P-please," she pleaded, not taking her eyes off of the girls in front of her. "Please don't call the police. I'll figure something out, but I don't want you all putting yourself in further danger."

Spencer opened her mouth to argue further, but Hanna grabbed her shoulder, shaking her head as she decided not to push it. Finally, Spencer complied. "Okay," she finally said, wrapping her arms protectively back around Aria. "Okay, we won't tell anyone."

Aria sniffed as she snuggled into Spencer's embrace. "Thank you," she whimpered, and Emily and Hanna joined in on the hug once more, trying their hardest to comfort their friend.

The girls stayed like this for a while, sitting with each other in front of the fire and trying to talk about different things to try to cheer Aria up, but nothing seemed to be working. She would smile occasionally and laugh at a joke Hanna told, but the darkness in her eyes was still present. No matter what, nothing either girl said could make her feel happy, could take away the emptiness she felt inside.

Eventually, it started to get dark, so Emily and Hanna left one by one. Aria figured it was time to leave as well, but Spencer stopped her.

"Sit back down," she ordered, and Aria immediately sat, not even daring to go past Spencer's wishes.

"Spence, it's getting late, and I still have homework for tomorrow," Aria complained, but Spencer firmly shook her head.

"One, there's no way I'm letting you go out like this," Spencer said seriously. "And second, there's no _way_ you're going to school tomorrow, either."

"But Spencer - "

"What kind of friend would I be if I let you walk into an environment where the person who has been stalking you for years _and_ assaulted you happens to _teach?_" Spencer said exasperatedly.

"But _you're_ still going to school, have you thought about that?" Aria pointed out, but Spencer still shook her head.

"I'll handle it," she said shortly. "Meanwhile, you're going to spend the night here, and you're going to rest tomorrow."

"Spencer - "

"Don't argue with me!" Spencer snapped. "Now finish your soup _and_ your tea!"

With that, Spencer stomped up the stairs, most likely to get more blankets. Aria sighed as she reached for the mug of tea on the table, taking small sips as she thought about everything that had happened within the past 12 hours. She knew that now that Ezra could attack her with confidence, he wouldn't hesitate to do such a thing again. She could take the bruises to her skin, but the bruising to her heart was what upset her so much. Ezra let her believe that he loved her, that she could trust him, that he would keep her safe. But in the meantime, he was the one putting her in danger the entire time. It all made her feel sick to her stomach, making her place her tea back on the table.

Spencer had ordered her to go to sleep, but she didn't know how she _could_ sleep after all she had been through. So instead, she resorted to laying back on the couch pillows, trying to clear her head, but the mere effort brought tears to her eyes.

_Crying is good_, she thought to herself as the tears strolled down her face. _You can't keep holding things in. It's okay not to be okay sometimes_.

She thought of going upstairs to tell Spencer how she was feeling, but the stairs looked too intimidating, and she was too tired, so she just let the tears fall as she gently weeped for the rest of the evening.

* * *

Ezra stormed into the lair, still in his work clothes from earlier. Mona looked up from playing Candy Crush on her phone, unable to hide the smirk forming on her face. "Looks like someone didn't have the best day."

Ezra ignored her as he stalked over to where she was sitting, pushing her out of the way as he opened the desk drawer and dug through it. Finally, after no luck, he came up for air, glaring at Mona. "Did you take my Old Spice bubble bath?"

Mona opened her mouth to crack a joke at his feminine tendencies, but then closed it when she saw the fury, as well as fear, on Ezra's face. "Something tells me you're not this upset about a bubble bath."

Ezra sighed as he took Mona's chair, disregarding the appalled look on her face, and sat in it. "It's just been a long day."

"How come?" Mona asked, and Ezra almost thought he heard a touch of concern in her voice, but knew it was just worry that he had screwed up a part of the newest A-team ploy.

Ezra simply shook his head in response. "Nothing. What's new with the girls?"

"Well, I'd be able to _tell_ you, but the sound gave out," Mona said bitterly as she clicked her mouse and the screen popped up, showing Spencer's living room. Now, it was just Spencer and Aria talking, but they didn't look happy.

"What happened?" Ezra asked as he looked closer. Mona shook her head as she huffed in annoyance.

"How should _I_ know?" she said in a voice coated with frustration. "I thought that adapter kit was supposed to come in soon! That could probably fix the sound!"

"I tried tracking it, but the website isn't letting me!" Ezra shot back. Mona just groaned as she pulled up another chair, but Ezra continued to stare at the screen.

"Is Aria... crying?" he said softly. Mona came up closer to the screen, focusing her eyes on the smaller brunette. She then pressed a few keys, causing the frame to zoom in on Aria's face. After spotting the tracks of several tears on both sides, Mona grinned satisfactorily.

"Looks like she is," she said proudly before propping a hand on Ezra's shoulder. "Whatever you did, good work."

"I... don't think I did anything," Ezra lied, but Mona just giggled it off as she went over to the mini fridge on the other side of the lair.

"Go ahead and keep that modesty act going, Fitz," she said cheerfully as she pulled out a bottle of champagne. "I knew there was hope for you after all."

She took a couple of glasses from the top of the fridge and began pouring it. Ezra was about to comment that they both still had school the next day, but was too scatterbrained to work his words correctly. He had done that to Aria. He was the reason she was so upset. He couldn't even imagine what she must be feeling right now.

But then again, why was he reflecting? Why should he care?

"Hey, why did I find this in one of the files?" a voice shouted, and when Ezra and Mona looked up, they found Cece in the doorway, holding up a bottle of mysterious liquid that only Ezra recognized right away.

"Thank you!" he said gratefully as he stood up and ran to his bubble bath. "I was looking for that."

Cece was about to question why he even owned bubble bath in the first place, but she decided against it after remembering what Ezra was like. Before she could even say anything at all, Ezra grabbed the bottle out of her hands and walked toward the door.

"Where are you going?" she asked incredulously. Ezra halted in his tracks before pivoting toward the girls, an unsure look on his face.

"Umm... I'm taking the night off," he said hastily before rushing out the door, not bothering to catch the look on Cece's face.

"What's gotten into him?" she asked as the door slammed shut behind him. Mona simply shrugged as she pulled her phone back out.

"He says he had a rough day," she said coyly, "but something tells me he did something bad and is feeling guilty about it."

At this, Cece let out a wide, proud grin as she came over to the desk, eying the glasses of champagne. "Excellent," she said suavely. "We finally got him to man up. Girl power, am I right?"

"Don't talk to me," Mona said dismissively as she kept her eyes glued to her phone. "I'm trying to beat this next level."

Cece stared at Mona in amazement, but then rolled her eyes as she took her champagne and walked over to a different part of the room. Why did her accomplices have to be so _weird?_

* * *

**So now the girls know about EzrA, as well as what he did to Aria, but no one on the A team knows. But how long will it take them to find out? And what will HAPPEN when they find out? Also, can we just take a minute to recognize Mona, just chilling playing Candy Crush while Ezra is ready to pull his hair out?! And can we talk about how chill she is playing CANDY CRUSH of all games? (Anyone here play Candy Crush? If you do, you understand me when I say it is simultaneously the best AND the worst game ever. If you don't play it, listen to me when I tell you: DO NOT START). But anyway, sound off in the reviews what you thought of this chapter, and what you think will happen next! **


	17. Chapter 17

**I know, it's been, like, 7 years since I last replied to your reviews, but when you're on a different time zone and wake up literally by the time you need to upload the next chapter, you just don't have the time! Hopefully I can get back to replying soon, though, because you're all fabulous :)**

**You all thought the Sparia was heavy last chapter? Try THIS chapter :D All Sparia, all the time. But I do like all of the chapters with the OT4, and you should see more of those in future chapters, as the girls become more and more concerned about Aria's wellbeing. But before we get to that, we still have this chapter ahead of us! So enjoy, and don't forget to review at the end!**

* * *

Spencer lay on her back, staring at the dark ceiling above her. The lime green beams of light shooting out from her alarm clock in her peripheral vision told her that it was nearly 3 o'clock in the morning, but there was no way she could sleep. She considered counting all of the little specs on the ceiling tiles above her, but she had done that many times in the past and had gotten to 89,564 every time, and with how her brain was functioning at the moment, she knew this time she'd be at least 2 off, something she'd never be able to cope with.

So Ezra was A... now what? Did they accost him? Knock him on the head with a baseball bat and dump his body in a river? No, she knew they had to be more subtle in their approach. They at least should tie him up to the point that they get some _answers_ out of him. But would he be willing to talk?

Spencer sighed as she took the pillow next to her and pressed it to her face, ignoring the way she was slowly suffocating herself. Here she was, making all of these grandiose plans to get rid of A, or Ezra, for good, and she wasn't even taking minor details into account. How could they get away with doing something like that to him without being questioned by the police? With the way A worked, she _knew_ he'd find a way to put the blame all on them and have them expelled for assaulting a teacher. Maybe even worse. Also, she couldn't forget how he probably still had a team of accomplices to back him up and cover all of his tracks.

And most importantly, how would Aria feel about all of this?

Just as Spencer started feeling lightheaded from the pressure of the pillow on her sources of air, she heard a scream from downstairs. _Speaking of Aria_, she thought less than cynically as she shot up from her repose. In one breath, Spencer pulled the covers, and her pillow, back and shot out of the door like a rocket, gliding down the stairs on the tips of her feet and racing to the couch at Aria's aid.

Aria was sitting up, gasping for air and coughing sporadically, beads of sweat forming on her forehead. She did not look good. In fact, she looked the opposite of good.

"What happened?" Spencer asked caringly, trying to coax an answer out of Aria before her breathing got even worse.

Eventually, Aria did catch her breath, gulping in as much air as possible as she tried to form her words. "I... I had a dream that... we were... and then he was..."

Even though Aria wasn't making any sense, Spencer could immediately tell what her nightmare was about by the way Aria kept rubbing her neck. "You had a dream that you were making out and then he was choking you, didn't you?"

Immediately, Aria stood up straight, eyes widened as she stared at Spencer, aghast. "How did you - "

"Believe me," Spencer said grimly as she stood up and plopped down on the couch next to her friend. "I've been there."

Aria's expression changed from one of awe to one of melancholy. She then let her blanket fall as she hugged her knees to her chest and then scooted closer to Spencer. The two didn't speak for several moments, until Aria finally broke the ice. "When does the pain stop?"

Spencer was taken aback by this question, frankly because she didn't quite know the answer. In response, she draped her arm around Aria's narrow shoulders, pulling her close. "I'm sorry I was so short with you earlier," she whispered, reminiscing on how she had all but pinned Aria to the couch and force fed her the soup and tea they had brought her, not even bothering to give her a hug goodnight. "I'm just not sure how to deal with all of this. It's almost like..."

"Looking in a mirror?" Aria finished, giving Spencer a look that resembled that of a small dog, her doe eyes shining with an emotion Spencer couldn't properly convey in the dark.

Spencer nodded her head, with much difficulty given how she could feel her throat fill up with unshed tears. "Exactly," she squeaked out. "When Toby betrayed me the way he did, I found it harder than it should be just to get out of bed in the morning. But that's me. I can deal with my own personal sorrow. I only have a problem with it if I have to see my best friend go through the same thing."

Aria let out a deep breath as she rested her head on Spencer's shoulder. "I'm sorry," she said timidly.

After hearing this, Spencer let out a disbelieving laugh. "Sorry?" she echoed. "It's not your fault! If anything, it's that asshole's fault for doing this to you!"

As Spencer said this, a short, gurgling noise escaped Aria's throat. Spencer pulled back, looking Aria in the face as she held her shoulders firmly.

"I'm sorry. I know this is hard for you to hear, but he _is_ an asshole. Aria, Ezra is not a good guy."

"I understand that now," Aria said darkly, nodding her head for confirmation. "I just... how could I have not seen it before?"

"He had us all fooled," Spencer said, disapproval in her tone at the thought of Ezra squeaking by them like that. She really ought to walk up to him and shake him up a bit, _especially_ for Aria's sake.

Aria then turned away from Spencer, moving Spencer's hands from off of her shoulders as she faced forward again. "Spencer, I would hole myself up in his apartment for hours at a time, watching old movies and talking about literature and eating Chinese takeout."

"Because he made you feel safe," Spencer reasoned, but this didn't reassure Aria, who simply shook her head as her chin quivered. Spencer knew her well enough to know that this meant she was fighting back tears.

"That doesn't mean the rest of you were," she finally said morbidly; so morbidly that Spencer shot up into an upright sitting position, looking at Aria as though she had just she had flown in from Mars two seconds ago.

Aria just let out a scoff as she looked at Spencer as though it was all perfectly clear. "I spent all of my time with Ezra, worrying about him and thinking about him, while the rest of you were risking your lives to figure out who A was. Meanwhile it was right under _my_ nose the entire time."

"Aria - "

"If I had _just_ looked a _little closer_ into his apartment, I could probably figure out that he used his typewriter to send a letter to my mom revealing my dad's affair," Aria interrupted, her voice increasing in volume now. "If I had only paid closer attention to the format in those A texts, I would've made the connection that that amount of literary references and _perfect grammar_ could've only led back to a fucking _English teacher_."

"_Aria_ - "

"Maybe I could've stopped all of this sooner!" Aria was shouting now, standing up from the couch as she glared down at Spencer, her anger overpowering her reasoning and her love for her best friend as she screamed into her face. "Maybe I could've stopped that car from hitting Hanna! I could've stopped Emily from getting an ulcer! I could've stopped Toby breaking your heart! I could've - "

Aria stopped shouting as she looked down at Spencer's face, her eyes wide with fear at Aria's outburst. Aria hadn't calmed down completely, but she did slowly raise her wrist up to her face as she looked down at the scar she still had from Halloween night, as she remembered how A, _Ezra_, had locked her in a box, being one of the few times A had tried to at least shake her up.

Then she remembered that while A had been hesitant to touch her, he hadn't been hesitant in touching her family. He had put a hive full of bees in her mother's car, causing Aria to ship her off to Austria, framed Mike for vandalism, and, perhaps the worst of all, caused her parent's eventual divorce.

"I could've saved my parent's marriage if I hadn't been so quick to trust him," Aria whispered, and then the tears came. Spencer stood up from the couch to wrap her arms around Aria, lowering them both to the couch as she held her in a tight embrace, and Aria just continued to sob into Spencer's arms.

"To answer your question," Spencer said calmly as she soothingly stroked Aria's hair, "I don't think the pain ever really goes away."

Aria sniffed as she snuggled closer into Spencer's arms. "It doesn't?"

"No," Spencer said honestly as tears of her own started to trickle down the frame of her face. "I still think about it every night before I go to sleep; about how Toby drove me into a mental institution, yet I still continue to be with him."

Aria's shaking stopped suddenly as she rose from Spencer's arms, tears still falling from her eyes. "You know," she began, wiping the salty tears off of her cheeks, "A treated you like the weakest link during that time, to the point that I almost believed it."

"Well, you were right," Spencer admitted. "I _felt_ like the weakest link."

"But I was wrong, Spence," Aria said inflexibly, reaching for Spencer's hands. "So, _so_ wrong. You've always been one of the strongest people I've ever known. Even when you were at your worst, you still stood tall for the rest of us."

Aria then let out a shaky breath as she gave Spencer's hands a squeeze. "You were never the weakest link," she said tearfully, her voice quivering. "I... I am."

"Aria, no you're not," Spencer argued, but Aria wasn't finished.

"I didn't say I wanted to stay that way, though," she continued determinedly. "I'm not going to sit back while A continues to take our lives away. I'm going to fight for each and every one of you until this game of cat and mouse is over."

Spencer nodded her head as she pulled Aria close again. "You know you still have us, right?" she pointed out. "You don't have to go through this alone."

"I know," Aria said, her tone of voice sounding like she was giving in, but the fierce look in her eyes telling that she was nowhere near doing that. "But I don't want to put either of you in anymore danger."

Spencer decided that she couldn't get through to Aria, that this was her battle to fight, so she just continued to hold her close and rub calming circles along the surface of her back. A few minutes passed before Aria spoke again.

"After this is all over, maybe the pain will go away for both of us, Spence."

_I've given up hope on that a long time ago_, Spencer thought grimly to herself, but she didn't say this outloud. Instead, she leaned in to give Aria a tender kiss on the side of her head, lingering there as she made a promise to protect her, wishing nothing more than for her to be safe.

Both girls stayed like this, without speaking anymore, until they had fallen asleep.

* * *

**For ShadowsOnTheMoon, who was upset that Spencer had run upstairs without cuddling with Aria. She has REASONS! But seriously, Sparia. Perfection. I just cannot words. But yeah, so review/follow/favorite/WHATEVER to let me know what you thought of this chapter, and I'll either see you tomorrow or tonight for the final installment of my Haleb story!**


	18. Chapter 18

**Hi, everyone! Sorry for not updating yesterday; I was a little busy flying across the United States. But I'm here now! And with one of my favorite chapters in this story, but before I get to it, how about replying to some reviews?**

**Liz: Thank you! I love Sparia too :)  
meels234: My sparia heart hurt while WRITING it because I just kept thinking "If we don't get good Sparia scenes this season I'm going to die of dehydration... of Sparia." SO the writers better get on that, haha.  
Guest: Thank you! You're gonna be crying a lot more this story, I will say that. And this chapter is where you really see Aria start to fight back. She's got some tricks up her sleeves, and no one really knows what she's thinking, but eventually she's just going to SNAP.  
eveningshades1107: How do you make a review for a chapter that depressing to be THIS funny?! "Make him FEEL like Jackie Molina" You weren't kidding about that Heather Hogan binge, were you? And Ezbian's army is going to be making their rounds, I will say that. It won't be long until his secret comes out with them, too, and they aren't going to handle it well. Havoc will be unleashed!  
SofFernandezzz: Well, they're not getting together in this story, but I'd take Sparia over Spoby any day. Thanks for reading!  
TeamEmayaForever: I always feel bad because when you review, you ask if I can put stuff in, and it's already written so unfortunately I can't! But I think if you stop asking questions and just let the writing speak for itself, you'll enjoy it way more :)  
Ava B: I NEED my dose of Sparia on the show, or else I will be unable to properly function. Like, that just needs to become a thing.  
Claire -bear: GASP! An Ezria shipper! Mighty brave of you to show your face here (totally kidding, btw, I'm an Ezria shipper, too). But seriously, your review made my day, thank you so much :) Ezra might not be the sweet hopeless romantic that you fell in love with, he's very dark in this story, but I think you'll find he's just confused. He might not be a very good guy, but he's morally flexible. That slight glimmer of regret in his heart could expand to something bigger, you never know ;)**

**And now, for your delicious chapter. Hope you enjoy, and don't forget to review at the end!**

* * *

Aria's eyelids slowly separated as she opened her eyes. She could hear a bird chirping outside and the lull of the television in the kitchen blaring at a soft volume, and quickly became aware of her surroundings. She was at Spencer's house.

As the events of the previous night played like a slideshow in her head, Aria groaned and leaned back against the couch pillows. Could anything in her life get worse at this point?

Gradually, she emerged from her pile of blankets covering her and padded her way into the kitchen, where the time on the stove read 7:27. That meant Spencer had gone to school by now, along with the others. Aria sighed as she trudged over to the coffee pot, where Spencer was gracious enough to leave a few drops for Aria. Knowing that she was at risk of cardiac arrest if she drank it plain, Aria opened the fridge to retrieve milk and sugar to compliment her coffee. As she poured the ingredients into a mug, she sat down at the table, taking small sips as she kept her eyes on the television screen, as if it could provide a useful distraction.

On the screen, a weatherman was using a baton to point at a cold front coming into the Pennsylvania area, before the screen shifted to another news reporter who was giving the traffic report. Aria became hypnotized by the scenes unfolding on the screen as a different reporter stepped in every minute, informing of something new, something common. Not once did one of the people on the television screen talk about a teacher-student rift that ended with ripe bruises on the student's neck. Not once did one of the people on the television screen talk about a group of sociopaths going after a high school clique.

Not once did one of the people on the television screen mention the revival of a long lost teenager.

Somehow, Rosewood and the rest of the world had managed to keep moving on with their lives, but Aria couldn't find it in her to move on with hers. The rest of the world didn't know that Ezra was A, and even if they did she knew they wouldn't go out of their way to stop time for her.

Aria rested her heavy head on the table, hoping in turn she would be giving her heavy heart a rest. Never had she ever felt so alone in such a long time.

She thought of her friends at school. Soon they would be entering their English class, where Ezra would write his name in chalk on the board, being careful to underline it with the thickest part of the white, pasty cylinder. Even without attending she could easily predict what would happen next: Ezra would probably lead the class in a discussion on Hemingway, trying his hardest to dodge what was most likely petulant glares from each of her friends, and being the big baby that he was he would most likely report each of them, all on Aria's cheek.

Aria raised her head from the table and placed it in her hands. She was probably wrong for being so sour, but she had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach that while she sat around in the Hastings kitchen, something terrible could be happening at school. Her head was pounding, her throat was sore from all of the screaming she had done, and her eyes were puffy from the tears she had shed, and still had yet to shed, but by the eighth tear that had dribbled down her face and into her coffee mug, Aria had had enough.

Ezra had broken her. She had let him in, denying anyone who told her it was a bad idea, and eventually she would have to face a stream of people coming up to her and telling her, "I told you so", something she didn't think she'd ever have to prepare for. She had spent so much time thinking Ezra could have been the one for her, yet the entire time he didn't even have an ounce of feelings for her. She should've guessed by the time all of his secrets began seeping out that he didn't trust her the way she had trusted him.

He made her sick. All of this made her sick.

A thought she was the weakest link. They had to. Why else would they set her to the side for so long, not bothering to touch a hair on her head? But she was done with everyone viewing her like she was made of glass, like she was a twig that would snap at any moment or a piece of marble that would crumble at the tiniest tap of a hammer.

Maybe that was who she was before, but she was going to put all of those viewpoints aside now. The longer she sat around and moped, the sooner she proved them all right, when she desperately wanted to prove them all wrong.

Finally gaining all of the courage she needed, Aria stood up from the counter, glancing one final time at the television screen. The weatherman was back on, reporting sunny skies later in the week, but in the evening a chance of thunderstorms, possibly even a blizzard. Immediately, Aria thought of Alison. How would she be protected from the winter cold with that meek, long, red coat? Even a hood wouldn't properly suffice as warmth! Where was she staying? Was the bottom of the DiLaurentis house heated? So many questions swarmed through Aria's head as she pondered over Alison's living conditions, realizing how easily she could lose her again.

No teenager deserved to live like that. And the sooner she stopped A, the sooner Ali could come home.

Alison had given Aria a task to save her from A, and Aria needed to follow through as quickly as possible. At the point, it seemed as though everyone she cared about was counting on her.

With one final swig of her coffee, Aria rose from the counter and headed toward the door to the house, slipping through it with just her phone and car keys in hand... to the car that was still parked in the school parking lot.

So she would have some work to do, but she was up for the challenge. At this point, she was willing to do whatever it took.

But just as she was about to close the door behind her, she swung it open again, grazing her eyes over the house. The polished wooden counter, the bleach-white couches vaccuumed to immaculinity, the windows on the doors wiped so that the glass was so transparent someone could walk right through it.

Aria wondered if this would be the last reminder of her friends, of the sleepovers and pillowfights and deep talks they had shared in this very room, that she would see. It almost didn't seem fair that she had to leave on this note. But eventually she worked up the strength to slam the door closed behind her, walking through the grass and making the journey back to her own house.

After all, all _is_ fair in love and war.

And the game they were playing with A was _definitely_ a war. One that she was determined to win.

* * *

Spencer huffed as she set her bag down at the foot of her desk, reaching down to take out her English notebook, along with her pencil bag and her copy of _Garden of Eden_. She unzipped her pencil bag and pulled out two perfectly sharpened pencils, setting them perpendicular to the far edge of the desk before placing the case back into her school bag. Getting through the next period was going to be especially rough, and if anything was the smallest bit out of place, even a crease on the corner of her looseleaf, she would pop a gasket. She needed to stay on task and focused, mainly because of the consequences if she didn't.

She watched the hands on the clock tick closer and closer to the class's starting time. Ezra saw this, too, and took this time to close the itinerary in front of him and emerge from his desk so that he could write the lesson of the day on the board. Spencer could feel her throat twitch. She was trying her hardest to bottle her emotions in and not lash out on the rat bastard at the front of the classroom, but the others weren't being so discreet. To her right, she could hear Hanna cracking her knuckles softly to herself.

Spencer sharply turned her head, her light brown locks bouncing onto her shoulders and into her face in the process, and glared at Hanna. "Can you _not_?"

"What?" Hanna whispered as she leaned over her currently empty desk - she couldn't care less about the current class as it was, but now that she knew the truth about their once favorite teacher, there was no way she was going to give even the slightest bit of a fuck. "Don't tell me you're not thinking of pummeling his ass to the ground for what he did to Aria."

"Believe me, _I am_," Spencer assured as she crossly averted her eyes to the front of the classroom, where Ezra was clapping his hands together to get all of the chalk dust off of them. "He has everyone fooled with his act of innocence, but it'll come back to bite him."

"No it won't if we don't do something!" Hanna snapped. "He must know that _we_ know about his status, so he must've told his little allies by now."

"I'm not so sure about that," Spencer said unsurely as she continued to watch him up front, the ticking of the clock still ringing in her ears. _Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock._

"What do you mean?"

"He's smart, Hanna, he has to be," Spencer pointed out, somewhat defeatedly even. "He's going to want to strike a deal with us instead of running for the hills."

"Then why hasn't any of that happened yet?"

_Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock._

"Will you both keep your voices down?" Emily said from behind, pulling her earphones out of her ears, the faint sound of Katy Perry's newest album coming from the speakers. "Someone is bound to pick up on what you're saying!"

"Em, it's been two years and we haven't been questioned once," Hanna said breezily as she leaned back in her chair, keeping a steely-eyed gaze toward the front of the classroom, preparing for the beginning, and most likely the rest, of class. "Sooner or later we need to realize that no one cares enough to ask. Calm yourself."

"I'll calm myself when I can have a movie night with my girlfriend without worrying about getting drugged and kidnapped at the same time," Emily muttered grumpily as she removed her earphones and put them and her phone back into her backpack.

_Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock._

Ezra looked up at the clock, realizing it was getting closer to 8 o'clock by the second, but since it looked like everyone was present he would start class anyway. He did notice the absence of one particular brunette, but he didn't expect her to show up anyway.

_Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock._

"Alright, class," Ezra said authoritatively, pressing his hands to the surface of the desk. "The period is going to start any second, so we might as well get started. If you could open your books to page - "

"Sorry I'm late."

_RIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNGGGGGGGG._

Every single pair of eyes turned toward the door, and the girls in the back gasped at the person entering the classroom, their hand extended as they held out a pink late pass.

Aria stood up front, looking unlike she had ever looked before. Instead of her normal getup, consisting of neon over checkered print complemented by a variety of feathers, she was wearing the most normal set of clothes the girls, or anyone really, had ever seen on her: dark-wash jeans, a pair of brown uggs, and a loosely fitting white v-neck. No jewelry, no make-up, and only a scrunchie to pull back her jet-black hair into a ponytail.

It was Aria standing before them, but at the same time... it wasn't.

Ezra widened his eyes as he stared down at the late pass, but in the end he ended up reaching down for Aria's fingers and curling them back around the pass. Even though it was obvious to the girls, no one else in the classroom seemed to notice the tension between the two up front, or how Aria cringed ever so slightly when he put his fingers to hers. "You came in right on time, Miss Montgomery," he claimed, pointing upward to the clock in reference to the bell that had rung right after she had come in. "You can just take your seat."

Aria nodded curtly as she walked past him, but no matter how breezy she tried to come off as, she was still tense. Her movements were rigid, and she looked like a rubber band ready to be snapped. And in the brief moment that she and Ezra had made eye contact, there was something in her face that was so subtle, so small, that no one would be able to detect it without knowing about it first.

Contempt. Absolutely pure contempt.

As Aria took her seat with the other girls, all of the other students continued their previous conversations, happy for the delay, but Spencer, Hanna, and Emily were quick to jump down Aria's throat as she took her seat.

"What are you doing here?" Spencer hissed as Aria leaned down to retrieve her supplies from her bag. "I told you to stay home!"

"Seriously, Aria, you shouldn't be here," Emily said concernedly. "Did you even get any sleep last night?"

The girls continued to pester Aria while they had a spare moment, as Ezra was still gathering his bearings at the front of the room and the rest of the class was chattering it up, but Aria was unphased. She didn't say a word the entire time, until she finally raised her head, along with her Hemingway book and a ballpoint pen. Finally, she tucked a stray hair behind her ear and took a deep breath.

"I know what I'm doing," was the one phrase that left her mouth before she directed her attention to the front board, her laser beam, loathing filled vision focused on the tall, lanky oaf standing by the desk.

Let it begin.

* * *

**So Aria Montgomery is officially not going down without a fight, and it seems like she's going for a Stonewall Jackson approach. No hiding, no cowering away. Just sitting there, staring him down with her hawk eyes like a boss. But of course, the girls are going to be concerned about her inner turmoil. What do you think will happen next? Sound off in the reviews!**


	19. Chapter 19

**I'm so happy you guys liked #BadassAria, because, in case you couldn't tell, I love her too. I pump my fists in the air everytime I see the scene of her charging down the hallway after Mike told her about the rumor that she hooked up with Conor, with that look in her eyes. You know the look. She has that look on her face right now. At this very moment in the story. Just in case you guys needed help visualizing :)**

**Liz: YEAH she's a boss! Glad to be able to deliver Aria like she should be delivered :) too many people on this fandom make her weak, when really she's stronger than she's given credit for.  
eveningshades1107: You've got it. Aria has hit rock bottom, meaning: feathers away! But she's gonna go even deeper down, this is only the beginning. It's a little early to be calling me a rotten minx, save that for another, oh, say 7 chapters :)  
Claire-bear: I hope they don't make her mope around. But then again, Spencer kinda just moped around all the time, so if they do a trend with that, I'm gonna be really mad. I hope they have her use this information to strengthen her. But from what it sounded like, in 4B Aria's going to be more angry than sad, so I'll be looking forward to that! Thank you for your review, you are wonderful as always :) PS: of course I write the girls' friendships, I ship the OT4 more than any of the couples!  
ComeOnWe'reTeamSparia: YES THEY ARE! SPARIA IS PERFECT! We need Sparia scenes this season, it's simply the only option. And I agree, Aria is very strong. After all, she pushed both her mother AND Ezra away in 4A to protect them, when she could really use a hug from both of them. Heather Hogan does a better job describing it than I do, but you get my point.  
Ava B: Hold onto that thought! Next chapter is a Hanna/Ezra interaction ;)  
ShadowsOnTheMoon: Wow, way to spoil the surprise I had planned for this chapter. I had already INCORPORATED that line, now you just had to make me feel all bad :( jokes, of course, I know you're going to feel horrible after you read it. You're always one step ahead of me, little Hufflepuff! And you would be correct. All boundaries be gone, because if there's one thing we know about Aria, is that she's not afraid to say what needs to be said or do what needs to be done to get through to people. And that's exactly what she's doing here. This is her way of telling Ezra "Back off of my friends, because I'm not afraid of you, and I WILL strike if need be." BTW, I spotted your review on my Haleb fic! Glad you're reading it, now, but trust me, you haven't even gotten to the best part yet ;)**

**And now for the chapter. This one is a LITTLE lacking in dialogue, but I couldn't add anything onto it unless I wanted it to be WAY too long. But I'll still see you guys tomorrow (when school starts back up. BLECH) for another chapter! Enjoy, and don't forget to review!**

* * *

_Ezra slapped his hands on the desk, fury clear as day in his usually welcoming blue eyes. "They can't do that!"_

_"Obviously, they can, Ezra," Cece said calmly, hoping her somewhat tranquil energy would transfer over to her partner in crime, but it didn't appear to be working. If Cece looked closely enough, she could see a tiny vein bulging out at the top of Ezra's forehead, ready to burst if he got worked up just a tad more._

_Ezra's eyes widened even further, before he finally opened his mouth again. "MONA! TOBY! ASSES IN HERE, NOW!"_

_After merely half a second, there was the sound of squeaking feet against the marble floor, and Mona and Toby were soon standing in front of Ezra._

_"How can we help you, Chief?" Mona said in an overly cheerful voice, clearly meant to mock Ezra. Toby snickered at this, but stopped once his face met up with the steely eyed look in Ezra's._

_"Both of you, shut up," Ezra barked. "This is serious. As you know, we figured out a while ago that the autopsy results for Alison's, or should I say 'Alison's,'" he added, putting air quotes around her name, "body have been altered to make it seem like it was really her."_

_"Wow," Mona said, unimpressed. "Not only did you do a shitty job of killing her, but you also let her sneak past you and change her autopsy results to stay in hiding?"_

_"Shut UP, Mona!" Ezra exploded, and Toby jumped. Ezra noticed this and let his demeanor calm a little before calming down again to finish his sentence. Toby was new to the team - Mona had just recruited him recently - and he certainly didn't want to scare him off... at least, not _just_ yet. "Anyway, we've just found out that the body she replaced herself with is being exhumed later this week, which clearly is not good for us."_

_Toby looked confused. "What does exhumed mean?"_

_At this, Mona simply rolled her eyes. "It's when you dig up a corpse from the ground," she defined, "presumably for further testing."_

_"Yes, thank you Mona," Ezra said exasperatedly. The team could clearly tell that he was on edge, which was never a good sign. Mona beamed at this, but something was still off._

_"Since you know so much about corpses, Mona," Ezra went on to say, "I think you'd be perfect for this task."_

_Mona blinked rapidly at this proposition. "Task? What task?"_

_"Well," Ezra began smugly, "it just seems so perfect since you've been at Radley this entire time and no one would suspect that it would be you."_

_"Ezra, what are you talking about?" Mona asked, hoping for some kind of clarification._

_Ezra then took this time to pick up a pen from his desk before twirling it in between his fingers, then promptly sitting down in his swivel chair as he placed the pen between his teeth. He eyed Mona appraisingly, as if he was deciding how to make use of her._

_The team knew him well enough to know that he was._

_"Mona, I want to know what your opinion is on grave robbing."_

* * *

"Aria!" Spencer called as her smaller friend marched down the hall after class, but Aria didn't even flinch. She kept walking forward until she reached her locker, and her friends sped up to catch up with her.

"Why are you here?" Spencer asked, part of her voice coated with confusion, but the other part with warning that she hoped Aria would catch onto. "You were supposed to stay home and rest!"

"I'm not even sick, Spence," Aria said simply as she twirled her combination into the lock and opened it. Obviously, she hadn't taken Spencer's hidden warning into account.

Spencer looked exasperated, so Hanna jumped in. "No, but you might as well be," she said bluntly. "Look at you! You look like a strung out Powerpuff Girl!"

"Well, yippee," Aria said emotionlessly, retrieving her books for her next class. "I always aspired to be Buttercup."

"Aria, listen to me," Spencer said sternly, her voice dropping a few octaves the way it always did when she was being serious. "You don't need to pretend that you're okay - "

"I'm not pretending," Aria insisted, finally turning her head to look Spencer in the eyes for the first time that day. Spencer was so startled by the ferocity in them, somehow emphasized even further by her lack of makeup, that she took two steps back.

At this point, Emily stepped forward. "Look, you just found out something... heartbreaking," she said carefully. "And we wouldn't blame you if you wanted to just curl up on the couch and stuff your face with junk food instead of be here."

"But that's _not_ what I want to do," Aria said firmly.

"Well... do it anyway!" Emily said encouragingly.

"Yeah!" Hanna eagerly nodded her head in agreement. "And I'm sure Spencer has some leftover junk in her house from when Melissa was pregnant."

"... Hanna, it's probably all gone stale by now," Spencer deadpanned, but Hanna stuck to her argument.

"Well don't _say_ that! Just go along with it, for just once."

"And give her _food poisoning?_"

"Well, thanks for realizing that I'm still _right here_, guys," Aria said sarcastically, and Hanna and Spencer froze, their jaws slackened from their unfinished conversation, before they stood straight as needles before Aria's locker once again.

"We just care about you," Hanna said earnestly. "You shouldn't have to be in the same room with that scumbag."

"You think I don't care about you guys, too?" Aria said defensively. "If I shouldn't be in there with him, then you shouldn't, either."

"It's different for you - "

"Well it shouldn't be!" Aria snapped, but then regretted it once she saw the hurt expressions on her friends' faces. _Oh god, this must be killing all of them._

But she couldn't break. She had to keep the act going long enough.

"Aria," Emily said unsurely, "I think I know what this is about, and if you're just coming to school because you think there might still be something there - "

"That's not what I think," Aria interrupted stiffly, and Emily froze, surprised.

Aria took a deep breath. "I... I know who he is, and I don't feel the way I did about him anymore."

The words felt heavy on her tongue, as if someone had taken a paper weight and pressed it against her taste buds with a great amount of force. Even when they left her mouth, she could still feel them hanging there, as if a pendulum was dangling from her lips.

Emily still looked stunned. "You... you don't?"

"N-no," Aria stuttered, hoping her phrasing sounded believable, even if she didn't know if it was true or not. _Did_ she still love him? If she did, how could she? And if she didn't, how could she get over him that quickly?

Aria swallowed back her thoughts as she continued talking. "I know that he's a bad guy, and I wouldn't mind never having to see his miserable face again. But..." Aria gulped again, only louder this time. "But I need to pass his class to graduate, and I can't do that if I'm not there. And besides, if I just avoided him for the rest of my life, he would win."

Emily pondered over this, before closing her mouth and nodding her head. Aria let out a breath of relief. Good. They had bought it. If she could just convince her friends that she was okay, maybe she could survive this.

Spencer, however, still didn't look entirely convinced. Needing to get away from her falcon gaze, Aria put her books into her bag and shut her locker. "I have to get to class," she muttered as she drifted away from her locker, and her friends.

"Okay," Spencer piped in. "See you later?"

Aria curtly nodded without turning around, but as soon as she rounded the corner, the other three parted ways as well. "She can't keep this act up forever," Spencer mumbled before she had separated from her friends. "At some point, she has to crack. You should've seen her last night, she was a mess."

In a way, Spencer was right, yet she was also wrong. Each day, Aria would get closer and closer to breaking, yet she never showed any sign of weakness, never shed a single tear during school hours. She had set up a routine for herself: she would wake up, stare into her closet at all of her yak fur beanies and oddly patterned dresses, and then ultimately settle for a solid colored t-shirt and a pair of jeans. She would stare at her fair face in the mirror and her endless supply of mascara and lipstick under it, but then walk out the door leaving her face clean. And she would walk into English every morning, hardly even look at her friends, and spend the entire class with a sullen, loathsome glower on her face, mainly directed toward Mr. Fitz himself. She would spend the entire school day in silence, even in classes that she shared with her friends, and every lunch period she would hardly touch her food. Each day, she looked more tired and more frail, the dark circles underneath her eyes making themselves noticed, worn out from little sleep and the many tears she only allowed herself to shed in the late hours of the night, and her already pale skin turning an even sallower shade. But at the same time, she stood her ground. She wouldn't allow her spirit to deteriorate, even though she had allowed herself to.

Every time she met eyes with Ezra, something felt so off. She was beginning to notice a coldness in him that she had never noticed before, yet every time she heard his sweet voice, she was reminded of the Ezra she thought she knew. Seeing these new shades of him, now knowing who he was, made her want to jump onto his desk and rip his throat out and demand he tell her why he would do such a thing to her, but she held her tongue. This routine stretched on for a few weeks, until finally Aria was having enough. She was running out of docile t-shirts and distressed pairs of jeans, and her friends kept staring at her expectantly, waiting for her to crack any minute, and a part of her felt like she just might.

But she couldn't. Not yet. There was still something she had to do.

The A team hadn't stricken for a while, and Alison hadn't turned up in either of their lives for just as long of a time. She knew that they had to be planning something, but she couldn't figure out what. Had Ezra even told them that she knew?

Clearly, everything was being put on hold as everyone waited patiently for her to strike. It was a game of cat and mouse, and the roles switched off all the time.

After some time, though, she _was_ ready to strike. She was ready to give them what they wanted, just not in the way they were expecting. They had taken their cat naps long enough. It was time to run from the chief dog, now, even if the chief dog was merely the size of a small puppy.

This game had gone on for long enough, and it was now time to do her friends, and Alison, justice.

* * *

**How excited are you guys for the winter premiere on Tuesday? I am VERY EXCITED! All I'm gonna say, though, is that it better be as good as they're hyping it up to be. They said all of this about 3B, and that was a joke, so they BETTER not be lying... that's all. But anyway, don't forget to review/follow/favorite/WHATEVER if you enjoyed this chapter!**


	20. Chapter 20

**I am SO SORRY for not updating yesterday! Fanfiction was glitching MAJORLY and the tab that is used to upload a new chapter and manage stories just wasn't working at all. But as you can see, I am back again with what I have to say is pretty close to my favorite chapter in this story - which is surprising, because there isn't a ****_speck_**** of Sparia in it! But I think once you get into it, you'll understand why I like it so much, too :) sorry I can't reply to reviews today, and I probably won't be able to tomorrow, either... and while we're at it, no promises for the rest of the week. School :P but yeah, enjoy this chapter, and don't forget to review at the end!**

* * *

Ezra tried putting his pen to paper when grading the papers at his desk, but it was too difficult. He found that he was spacing out too often, leading to commentary on essays that didn't make sense and marks on pop quizzes that were incorrect.

He supposed he was out of it. He was noticing it, and the people on the team were noticing it, too. Every night when he went to the lair and the girls would talk about their newest "plan", it always ended with a thump on the head from Cece and a patronizing glance from Mona when he wouldn't pay attention, or even dozed off, during their sessions. He was losing sleep, he hadn't shaved in weeks, and he looked even more crazed than he did when he found out Malcolm wasn't his son, yet no one knew exactly _why_ except for him and a certain other someone.

Every single morning, Aria would walk into the classroom, set her stuff down, and just sit at her desk as she looked up at him with a type of hatred he couldn't even comprehend. Even when they were together, and Aria was worked up about something and would vent to him, whether about Meredith or his mother or someone else, she would never get a look in her eyes that... _fierce._ And even if she did, Ezra never imagined it would be directed toward him.

She hated him. She really, truly did. But why wasn't he celebrating? Now he could stop lying to her _and_ himself, even if he was still lying to the team about how much Aria knew. As far as Mona understood, he had simply done something to upset Aria, but neither of the girls knew of how, or _why_, she was upset. Ezra was still trying to gather up enough strength to tell them that the jig was up, that Aria knew he was on the team and that their cover was basically blown at this point, but he couldn't find it in him. He kept trying to tell himself it was because he didn't want to get in trouble with Cece and Mona, but there was something clawing at the back of his brain that told him it was something else.

_No,_ he told himself, denying it in every way he could. _That's preposterous! You're not chickening out to _protect_ her, are you?_

But it was true. If the team found out what the Liars knew, and that Aria had told them, there was no telling what they would do to her. But if Ezra held off on that information, she would be safe.

But why did he _want_ her to be safe? He didn't care about her at all... did he?

His thoughts were interrupted by a _ping_ coming from the surface of his desk. Ezra sighed as he put a hand up to his stubbled face to support it, then put the phone to his ear. "Hello?"

"_Ezra, where are you_?" Mona hissed into the phone. Ezra, startled, leaped up from his desk and rushed to the door of the classroom to close it.

"You're not supposed to call me on this phone!" he scolded. "_Especially_ while I'm at school!"

"_Don't fuck around, Ezra_," Mona snapped, and Ezra jumped. Sure, Mona was rude and sarcastic on a daily basis, but hardly ever did Ezra hear her truly... _angry_. She always kept her cool, always stayed on top of everything, and hardly ever had a temper, but none of that was clear by the tone she was using with him now.

"Mona, what's wrong?" Ezra whispered into the phone.

"_What do you _mean_ what's wrong?_" she just about screamed into the phone. "_Ezra, why didn't you _tell_ us that the girls know who you are?_"

Ezra's blood ran cold. Oh no... "How... I don't know what you're talking about."

"_Yes, you do!_" Mona said icily into the phone. "_She confronted you about it! I know everything, now is not the time to lie to me_."

"How did you even find out?" Ezra asked incredulously, giving up on whatever act of denial he was attempting.

"_That adapter that you ordered, oh I don't know, 8 YEARS AGO?_" Mona exaggerated. "_It finally came in today, and we were able to catch up on all of the footage that we missed out on when it was broken._"

Ezra smacked a hand to his forehead. Mona had overheard the girls talking about his reveal to Aria, and now he was paying the price. He was _so_ toast.

"_You_ _CHOKED HER?_" Mona shouted, her words blaring into Ezra's ears. She was pissed, that was for sure. "_What happened to SUBTLETY, Ezra?"_

"I'm sorry!" he exclaimed, his voice cracking _again_. "She was provoking me!"

"_That doesn't matter!"_ Mona scolded furiously. "_Not only have you ruined this operation by keeping this a secret from us, but you've EXACERBATED it to the point that we're going to have to alter it completely._"

Ezra sighed haughtily. "Mona, you do not have to alter it."

"_Yes, we do!"_ she insisted. "_We're running short on time, so now we're going to have to make it so that we get what we originally wanted, _and_ punish your little girlfriend for knowing too much!"_

"She is _not_ my - "

But before Ezra could finish that sentence, he heard the creak of the door opening as it bounced back _hard_ against the wall. He turned toward the door, and felt the hair on his neck stand straight up when he saw who it was.

Standing straight and tall at the door, with her ankle-booted feet planted firmly on the ground, her blonde waves tied back into a braid, and her Siberian-husky blue eyes glimmering with murder, was a very wound up Hanna Marin.

"_Ezra?_" Mona called when he didn't speak anymore. "_Ezra!_"

Ezra's eyes widened as he turned back to his phone call. "Umm... I'll have to call you back, Wes, but thanks for the update on the car!"

"_What? Ezra, what are you even - _"

Ezra had hung up the phone and shoved it into his back pocket before Mona could even say another word. He then aligned himself so that he was upright, staring Hanna straight in the face. "How can I help you?"

"I think you know," she sneered, glowering up at him. Ezra gulped. This was going to be a lot harder than he hoped.

"You're lucky we don't just tell the entire school what an asshole you are," she growled, her voice dropping several octaves. Ezra sighed as he started to step forward, but when he saw the warning look in her eye, he stopped.

"Well, you couldn't do that anyway," he said logically, gaining a bit of strength back. "If you did, I'd simply find a way to let it all blow up in your face."

Hanna scoffed. "You're a creep."

"Look, you need to understand something - "

"No, _you_ need to understand something!" Hanna shot back, her voice tight as a power cord. "Aria is my best friend, and if anyone tries to do anything to her I get _very upset_."

"I can see that," Ezra muttered, trying to ease the tension, but it only made it worse.

"She loved you," Hanna said, disappointment and shaming present in her tone as she narrowed her eyes at the man who was supposed to be a role model, an authority figure, a teacher. A _good person_. "How could you do that to her?"

"Hanna, I am not the bad guy here!" Ezra exclaimed.

"Oh, bullshit - "

"I'm serious!" he said defensively. "My only intent for being a part of this was to get to Alison, I didn't even realize it was going to get this bad."

"Well, that makes everything _so_ much better - "

"It should," Ezra sneered, turning the tables. There was no _way_ he was going to let himself be bullied by a teenager, _especially_ one that he'd been manipulating and tormenting for almost 2 years. "I don't even understand why you're all so gung ho on Alison. She was horrible to you!"

"Alison may have been a bitch, but she was one of the best friends I've ever had," Hanna answered snidely. "She brought us all together, and you're the one trying to rip us apart!"

"If she really cared about you, she would've come running ages ago!" Ezra pointed out. "This whole shebang would've ended a long time ago if she didn't want to keep hiding."

"That's not true!" Hanna denied. "You're sick, and you're lying."

"Am I?" Ezra challenged, tucking his hands into his pockets as he raised an eyebrow coyly. Hanna bit her lip, but there still wasn't the smallest hint of reluctance in her face. She was still furious, and he was surprised she hadn't lunged for him yet. But at the same time, she was probably wondering why _he_ hadn't lunged for _her_ yet. All of the interactions he had had with any of the girls after they had him figured out had been surprisingly tame, but it made sense; if anyone else caught them fighting, it would lead to a huge conspiracy that would have the entire town talking, and they were all tired of the attention.

Well, at least the girls were. Ezra was just trying to keep himself out of an orange jumpsuit.

"Of course you are!" Hanna said manifestly, getting more and more frustrated by the minute. "You've been after me and my friends for months now, just because Alison may or may not have done something to piss you off?"

"You don't know a thing about what happened," Ezra said warningly. "Don't you dare jump to conclusions."

"I spend 9 out of 12 hours on any given day listening to Spencer Hastings talk!" Hanna snapped. "I've basically been _taught_ to jump to conclusions at this point."

"Well if Spencer's not getting any right, I doubt you are," Ezra pointed out, but as soon as he said it he started to take it back, because the look in Hanna's eyes changed.

She no longer looked so cold, so taut. Instead, she looked... amused?

"Are you forgetting that I'm the one who figured out it was you in the first place?" she pointed out, and Ezra gasped. He hadn't known that part.

"You took the diary?" he whispered, and Hanna smirked, proud of herself.

"That's what you get for underestimating me, Fitz," she said, and with that the coldness in her features returned as a threatening demeanor took over her. "And if you even think about hurting Aria, or _any_ of us, again - "

"Like I said, I'm not the one who's out for blood," Ezra said, putting his hands up to indicate he was innocent... to an extent. "That's all Mona."

Hanna's eyes widened, and she gasped out loud. When Ezra saw her face, he gasped, too, realizing he had made a terrible mistake.

"Mona's still in on it?" Hanna whispered, her face crumbling at the realization that her old best friend, whom she had thought she had won back, had gone against her again.

Ezra had an urge to kick something again, but he held out as he started to approach Hanna carefully, as if she were a rabid dog who had gotten ahold of something valuable of his. "Listen, Hanna, you cannot repeat - "

"Not a step closer!" she said venomously, but her voice had started quivering now.

"Please, Hanna," he begged, ignoring her requests for him to stay back. "Nothing we talked about leaves this room, I'm going to be _slaughtered _if - "

"Good," she said shortly. "You _deserve _to be slaughtered. You hurt my friends on a daily basis, you _stole_ my _other_ best friend - "

"Hanna, you weren't supposed to know that - "

"Don't _touch _me!" she shouted, her voice reaching an all time high, and Ezra froze, withdrawing his hand. When he caught a glance at her face, he knew he had to stop. If any administrators or passing students heard...

Ezra finally rested his arms at his side, and Hanna looked at him in a new light. Before, she approached him with the smallest hint of fear, especially knowing who he was, but after seeing how pathetic he was she was no longer afraid.

"I hate you," she spat, her words hitting Ezra like a paintball to the gut. "And not that you care, but Aria does, too. I hope you and your cronies are fucking satisfied."

And with that, she sauntered out the door, leaving Ezra to walk toward the wall and bang his head against it multiple times.

Yep. _That_ had gone well.

* * *

**So many things. Angry Mona, bumbling EzrA, protective/badass Hanna... man. And now Hanna knows about Mona being on the A team, while up until now all of the girls have thought she was kicked to the curb. So obviously she's going to tell the girls, and obviously that's going to lead to some backlash. That is, unless a _different_ type of backlash occurs first... what do you think will happen next? Sound off in the reviews!**


	21. Chapter 21

**I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm SO sorry that it's been so long since I've updated! This week was kinda crazy, but I'm here now! And here to talk about that episode...**

**I've heard mixed opinions about the premiere, but honestly, I LOVED it! I even loved the creepy music that played over all of my precious Ezria scenes! Okay, so that part is the cause of my deflated heart, as was Caleb leaving (and CRYING! When Caleb cries, the whole world cries... that was just too much, I was sobbing), but everything else (minus Toby's mom drama, which I could care less about) was spectacular. Sassy Emily snapping at everyone about her feelings was surprisingly entertaining, Evil!Ezra was GREAT, as was his scene with Mona. Oh my god his scene with Mona... that was my favorite scene in the episode, because 1) Vanderjesus, and 2) Ezbian standing UP to Vanderjesus! Also, Ezria was the most thrilling they've ever been. Every time she was with him I was screaming at my television, "NO! GET AWAY! HE'S GOING TO KILL YOU!" Scariest thing of my life. All in all, I'm really, really liking this season. Can't wait until Tuesday!**

**Now without further ado, here's your chapter, and it's not too easy on the feels. I was crying while writing this chapter, but not throughout all of it. One part in particular took me forever to write because I kept having to stop to cry throughout it. You'll see! But all in all, enjoy, and don't forget to review at the end!**

* * *

On Friday night, Aria called up Spencer, who answered after the first ring.

"_Hello_?"

"Hey, Spence," Aria said meekly, leaning against the door to her bedroom as she surveyed the rest of her room. She had been working on it ever since she had gotten home from school, which was hours ago. Now, almost every single memory of Ezra was packed away in a box. Not just the pictures of him or the gifts he had given her, but also every romantic novel she had ever owned, ranging from John Keats to Nicholas Sparks. Her room looked completely deserted now, and she hated the sight, but she recognized it as something that had to be done. All of those books reminded her of the love life she sought for, and the love life she thought she had, and she couldn't bear to be reminded of that again.

If there was one thing she had learned, it was that love never had a happy ending. Ever.

"_Aria_," Spencer breathed into the phone, breaking Aria out of her thoughts. "_What's up? Did you change your mind about coming over_?"

Aria sighed, the gentleness in Spencer's voice being enough to break her heart. Spencer had invited all of the girls to sleep over at her house, but Aria had declined, claiming she had too much homework. She didn't want to deny Spencer like this, but she kept talking. "No. But I... I have something to tell you."

There was silence on the other end as Spencer processed this. "_You... you do_?"

Aria nodded her head on the other end, until she realized that Spencer couldn't hear her movements through the phone. "Yeah," Aria said as she willed herself not to cry.

She heard shuffling on the other end of the phone, and guessed this meant Spencer was sitting up. "_Aria, are you okay_?" she asked worriedly.

"... No," Aria said honestly. "No, I'm not, and I never was. Can you and the girls be over here in 15 minutes?"

"_Of course_," Spencer said determinedly. "_Stay where you are, we're coming_."

"Thanks," Aria squeaked out as she hung up the phone, a stray tear rolling down her cheek. She had quite possibly the most amazing friends in the world, and the worst part about it was that she didn't even deserve them. Especially after what she was about to do.

She just hoped that they'd be able to forgive her for it.

* * *

"Guys, change of plans," Spencer said as she hung up the phone, turning to Emily and Hanna. Both were currently on the couch, with Hanna sprawled into Emily's lap as she nursed a headache and with Emily stroking Hanna's hair. After her run in with Ezra earlier, and after learning about Mona's involvement with the A team again, Hanna was pretty shaken up.

"What?" she groaned as she sat up.

Spencer sighed. "Aria has something to tell us, so we're going over there in a little bit."

Suddenly, Hanna straightened up and out of her slouching posture, and Emily stood up off of the arm of the couch. "What did she say?"

"She didn't say anything," Spencer said honestly. "But I think she's ready to open up to us about her weird mood as of late."

"Open up?" Hanna's eyes were now the size of quarters. "That can't be good."

"Why not?" Emily asked, confused. "At least she's not shutting us out."

"But she was shutting us out for a _reason_, wasn't she?" Hanna pointed out. "Whatever she has to tell us, it's not going to be good. Like, what if she just found out that she's _pregnant_ with Fitz's _baby_?"

"Hanna!" Spencer scolded. "That's not why she's shutting us out _or_ what she has to tell us!"

"You come up with a better alternative then!"

"How about that her _boyfriend_ is on the A-team?!" Spencer exclaimed obviously. "She obviously feels like she can't let anyone in right now, but based on the phone call we just had I think she's ready."

Hanna rolled her eyes as she stood up from the couch, too. "You all go ahead and keep thinking that that's all there is to it," she sneered, "but I know Aria, and based on how she's been acting, she's not just upset about that."

"What do you mean based on how she's been acting?" Emily asked. "What else have you noticed?"

"How about how she's never looked any of us in the eye since the night Spencer found her in the woods?" Hanna said. "How she never talks to us unless we initiate the conversation? Or how she's worn jeans for _weeks_ in a row! She's never done that in her life!"

"I told you, she's upset about Ezra," Spencer said logically, but Hanna wasn't buying it.

"If that were all there were to it, she would stay at home and cry for the rest of her life," she said bluntly, "but she didn't. She chose to come to school, she chose to sit in his classroom every morning, and she is keeping something from us greater than Ezra's involvement."

"But why would Aria lie?" Emily said softly, clearly wounded at the thought of one of her friends keeping something from her.

"I'm not saying she's lying," Hanna reassured. "For all we know, she could be doing this for our own safety!"

"Well whatever it is, it looks like we're going to find out today," Spencer said as she glanced at the clock. "We should probably head over there now."

Emily and Hanna gathered their things from Spencer's kitchen, and Spencer grabbed her keys as they all headed out to Spencer's car, with Hanna being the last one out the door. "I swear if we see a baby bump in another few months - "

"Not another word!" Spencer snapped, pointing to Hanna accusatively as she headed out to the car.

* * *

"Wait, slow down," Aria said into the phone. "_How_ many pastries did he have lined up around the room?"

"_47_," Aria's mother, Ella, answered back. Ella was still in Vienna, but Aria had sent an email, desperately asking if they could talk, so Ella had gone to the nearest pay phone to dial up her daughter. "_It was very romantic!_"

"Jeez, and this was only a _date?_" Aria said, impressed. She could almost _hear_ her mother eagerly nodding into the phone. "Zach is quite the charmer."

"_He is_," Ella said dreamily. "_But enough about me, you're the one who wanted to talk. What's going on over there? How're the boys?"_

"Mike's out with friends," Aria listed off the top of her head. "And dad should be home any minute. He went to the grocery store to get dinner."

"_Has he given you food poisoning yet?_" her mother joked, and Aria laughed at this.

"Not yet," she answered honestly, "but it's only a matter of time!"

Ella laughed, and Aria sighed contently. It was good to hear her mother laugh. It was good to hear her mother's _voice_. When Ella had left for Europe, Aria was heartbroken, but she still recognized it as something she had to do. But now, she could use one of her mother's hugs.

"_How about your friends?"_ Ella continued. _"Oh! And that boy you were seeing! Is he still around?_"

"The girls are doing... well," Aria lied smoothly. "But... Jake is out of the picture, unfortunately."

"_Aww, honey,_" Ella said sympathetically. "_I'm sorry._"

"It's okay!" Aria said breezily. "He's not my type, anyway, so I'm not too bent out of shape about it."

"_Then... why are you bent out of shape?_" Ella asked uneasily, and Aria had a double take.

"What would make you think that I'm - "

"_Aria_," Ella said warmly, letting her calming words wrap themselves around Aria like an argyle sweater and make her feel safe... for once. "_I've been your mother for nearly 18 years. I _know_ you."_

"Well, only so much can be conveyed through a simple phone call," Aria muttered, but Ella was persistent.

"_You'd be surprised!_" she offered up. "_Tell me, sweetheart, what's on your mind."_

Her mother's comfort and loyalty suddenly becoming too much for her, Aria let out a hiccupy sob, but tried her hardest to hold in her cries. She let a stray tear roll down her cheek as she whispered, "I just miss you, Mommy."

There was silence on the other end, and Ella's hesitation scared Aria for a minute, until she finally uttered, "_Oh, baby, I miss you, too._"

Aria sniffled indignantly as she wiped any other tears that escaped. "Wh-when do you come home again?"

"_Soon, baby,_" Ella said softly, at a loss for words on the other end. She didn't know what happened, but she wanted more than she ever had the entire trip to be at her daughter's side, holding her close as she helped her with whatever was going on. "_I won't be here for much longer. But you were the one who wanted me to go so bad in the first place, remember?_"

"I know," Aria admitted, trying to say as little as possible so as not to burst into tears. "A-and I'm really glad that you're having a good time down there, but... I miss seeing you every day, you know?"

"_I know,_" Ella said understandingly. "_But I'll be home before you know it, I promise. Is there anything else you need?"_

"No," Aria said softly, her voice quivering. Maybe this phone call hadn't been the best idea. It was taking a great deal of willpower not to crouch to her knees and sing like a canary about everything she had been dealing with for the past few weeks. "I... I just wanted to hear your voice."

"_I understand,_" Ella said sweetly, but Aria thought she could hear tears welling up in her mother's throat as well. Had she made her cry? That hadn't been what she had intended.

"Mom, I have to go, but this was nice," Aria managed out, her throat dry and her tongue feeling like sandpaper.

"_Alright, Aria, I won't keep you any longer,_" Ella said, newfound sadness in her tone. "_I love you, sweet girl._"

Aria pressed her palm to the speaker of the phone as she let out a shaky breath, but once she had composed herself she spoke into it again, fresh tears meeting her eyes. "I love you, too, Mom."

Aria then hung up, somehow feeling worse than she had before. She thought a phone call to her mother would be a way of encouragement for what she was about to do, but now she just felt more broken, more vulnerable.

_But you can't feel vulnerable,_ she told herself. _If you want to step out of your rank as the weakest link, you have to be ANYTHING but vulnerable._

Aria nodded to herself as she swallowed back any unshed tears and wiped away any that had already succeeded down the frame of her face. She had now taken care of the four most important women in her life, and it was time to set out.

She checked her desk, made sure her note was properly in place, and then walked out the door.

* * *

"Aria?"

The girls went up the stairs, but paid attention to every creak the wooden boards made when they went up it. The house was quiet... too quiet.

"She has to be here," Emily reasoned. "Why else would she leave the door unlocked?"

"More so than that, why else would she tell us to _come_ here?" Spencer added. But once they got up to her bedroom and noticed her door was ajar and that every single book, souvenir, and bohemian object that made the room so _Aria_, was missing, they became aware of how wrong they were.

Spencer lurched forward, feeling like she was going to throw up. "Aria?" she called, walking into the room and checking into every nook and cranny, including under the bed and in the closet. "Aria, where are you?"

"She's not here," Hanna said simply, but when Spencer turned around, she saw the fear in Hanna's face. Where was their friend?

"Guys..." Emily said, over by the desk. When Hanna and Spencer looked into her face, they saw how pale she was. Her skin was almost 3 shades lighter than usual, and her chin was quivering madly.

Spencer rushed over to the desk to see what Emily was looking at, and found nothing but a piece of looseleaf, with typewriter neat handwriting scripted across the lines.

When the girls read the text, their blood ran cold.

* * *

_Girls,_

_I'm writing this to you to say that I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I consistently put the person we most feared over all of you. I left you all in the dust to feel safe, but I was the one in danger the entire time. The worst part is you all forgave me, and it's taken me until now to apologize. But that all ends here. I'm going to make everything right. I'll see to it that this is all over._

_Don't even try to stop me. I'm already gone._

_I love all three of you so much. Don't forget that._

_-Aria_

* * *

**So this is it. Aria has run off, and it looks like she's finally ready to strike. After weeks of sending Ezra threatening glances, silently warning him not to hurt her friends, she's ready to take action. What do you think she's going to do? Sound off in the reviews!**


	22. Chapter 22

**Wow! Thanks for the awesome response last chapter, you guys rock! Thank you guys for being so patient with me while my life is as hectic as it is right now. Junior year sucks, that's all I have to say :P but since you guys rock, I'm going to take some time to reply to your reviews:**

**PllAriaLove: Welcome to the story! Can't wait to see more of you in my reviews :) Aria is my favorite as well because I see so much of myself in her, but with the storylines she's been given, that's hard to come across, so her 4B storyline is a sure way of changing that! If they do it right, that is...  
Guest: #Aria2.0 trend it, everyone. Haha, thank you for the review!  
Liz: That's a good guess! Let's see if you're right ;)  
TeamEmayaForever: That's what sucks about the winter premiere promos. They show clips from future episodes and confuse everyone :( it'll happen, though! And well, that's a good guess, but we'll have to see what happens!  
ComeOnWe'reTeamSparia: Oh Ella. That was the kicker for me. Writing that toyed with my feels in a way that feels should never be toyed with :( and well, hopefully some of that confusion will clear up this chapter! I'm going to put a reply below to everyone that should help :)  
Ava B: In Hanna's mind, pregnancy is the solution to everyone. "God, A has been such a BITCH lately. I bet she's pregnant." I think Ella is actually supposed to come back! Holly Marie Combs tweeted about it, so we'll see what that could mean. And oh Aria. She's just the tiniest little pitbull. Let's see what she gets herself into here ;D  
missdallywinston: You're the second person to guess that she stays with Ali, which is an interesting guess. She wants to do Ali justice, that's for sure. She wants to try to find her, to help her come home, but the question is HOW... thanks for reading! You'll get plenty of OT4 feels coming up :)  
ktime: Hey, I recognize your username! You read Saving the Best for Last, didn't you? Good to have you back, thanks for reading!  
eveningshades1107: You just love giving Aria a hard time, don't you? Give the girl a break, she's going through a rough time, and it's pretty impressive that she's even left her house at all. And oh... so, you're saying she's starting a colt with the families of all of the animals she slaughtered for her fashions? That's how she takes down A? Obviously that's it. You caught me.  
Guest: Plot twist indeed! Glad you're liking it!**

**Just a general note for everyone that might hint toward what's going on in Aria's head right now: Remember, Aria could have sat in her room and moped when she found out about Ezra, but she didn't. She came to school, and sat in his class, and that's her way of silent warning. "Touch my friends, I hurt you." She's tired of seeming like the weakest link, but at the same time she's very broken up inside, which is why this is all so hard for her and is why she's so distant with her friends. But she doesn't want to back down. Anyone who knows Aria knows that she is stubborn, and that can lead toward impatience, but it can also lead toward standing your ground. That's what she's doing here. Like I said before, she's going for the Stonewall Jackson approach: not moving, not speaking, just standing her ground like the stubborn spitfire she is. She's just waiting, waiting, WAITING for the right moment to strike, and she's watching everyone ELSE wait for her to strike, and in her mind, this is the right moment. Right moment for what, you ask? Wait and see ;)**

* * *

"What the hell is this?!" Spencer just about shouted as she threw the note to the ground. Emily stood back in shock, but then composed herself as she immediately walked up to Spencer's side.

"Calm down," she said carefully. "This can actually help us."

"_How_ can this _help_ us?!" Spencer exclaimed. "There's no address or anything. She basically broke up with us, and then ran off!"

"But she couldn't have gotten far!" Hanna reasoned. "She just called us!"

"We still don't know where she is, though," Spencer argued, the vein above her eyebrows popping out and her collarbone twitching the way it always did when she got nervous. "We're going to have to split up and check everywhere in town until we find her."

"And if we don't?" Emily asked darkly, not sure she wanted to know the answer.

Lucky for her, Spencer didn't even bother giving her one. She simply shook her head and dashed out the door, Emily and Hanna not too far behind.

* * *

Meanwhile, Ezra was trotting up the stairs of the old, abandoned building as he headed up to the lair. He had to retrieve something, but he also had a feeling one of his teammates would be there, and with his luck as of late it would end up being Mona. Ezra took a deep breath as he reached the final step, sucking in his gut as he turned the door knob.

He heard the scattering of papers and the squeaking of the swivel chair across the hardwood flooring, but once he came into view, all he saw was a small figure at the desk, cloaked in her regular A-team attire of a black hoodie with the hood over her face.

Mona was here. Her back was turned to him, and she was hunched over the desk as she wrote something on a sheet of paper.

Ezra clenched his fists. Mona was going to let him have it, he just knew it. But he was done being whipped around by her. It was about time he gave her a taste of her own medicine.

Ezra stood stiff as a board as he walked into the room, trying to appear more manly than he actually felt. His palms were sweating and his tie from earlier suddenly felt too tight, but that didn't stop him from marching right past Mona and digging through the desk drawer before him.

"I'm taking the car," he informed her as he fished out the keys to a black BMW that belonged to the team. "I've got some business to take care of that will probably affect the plan later on. Is that alright with you, your highness?"

Much to Ezra's dismay, Mona didn't respond to his sarcasm. She just stayed put at her desk, writing furiously with the pencil wedged between her gloved fingers. Confused, Ezra cleared his throat again.

"Oh, so now you're giving me the silent treatment?" he said sardonically. "Well, it's not going to work. I may not have any sisters, but I think dealing with you and Cece for 2 years is practice enough."

Silence still. Ezra watched Mona closely, and realized that while she had continued writing, the movement of her pencil had slowed slightly. Ezra blinked. Why was she ignoring him like this? Weren't his actions in themselves torture enough?

"Mona, c'mon," he prompted. "Talk to me. I'm the one wasting gas to go along with _your_ precious plan. I called up Cece to ask about the alterations, and I'm complying with them. What more do you _want?_"

Ezra was breathing heavily by the end of his sentence, desperately trying to keep his cool around Mona's collected demeanor, but Mona still wouldn't turn around to face him. Suddenly, Ezra's blood started to boil, and he lunged over for the desk, grabbing Mona's wrist that held the pencil. Mona yelped, her arm shaking in Ezra's grip and her head bowed so that her face was hidden.

Ezra scoffed. She didn't even want to show herself. How pathetic.

"I'm just here to remind you who's _really_ in charge of this team," he hissed venomously into her ear, like a snake about to bite. Mona whimpered, and Ezra simply laughed. He had gotten her. He had _finally_ gotten her.

"Next time you decide you want to cause problems for any of us, there _will_ be consequences," he threatened further. "No more Mr. Nice Guy, got it? That all ends _now_."

With that, Ezra let go of Mona, grabbed the car keys off of the counter, and charged out of the lair. But it was a shame he hadn't stayed longer, because he would've noticed that whatever Mona was writing wasn't even writing; it was merely a bunch of scribbles on a page. And if he had stuck around to get a closer look into her face, if he had lifted her hood, if he had removed the gloves from her hands, he would've realized that Mona's tan skin was actually pale, her full, dark lips were actually pink, and her chocolate almond eyes were actually round and hazel.

He would've realized that he wasn't staring into Mona's face at all, but at Aria's, quivering with fear.

* * *

Mona, however, wasn't even in the lair. In order to calm her nerves, she had stopped by the Brew to get an iced coffee. If Ezra wanted to act the way he was acting, then fine. Let the team, and the building blocks she'd put up to make the team what it was today, completely crash and burn. That was fine by her, as long as he fell down with the rest of the ashes. There was no way _she_ was cleaning up this mess.

Mona brought the coffee up to her lips, suppressing a moan of pleasure at the taste of the soft caramel. She normally took it straight black, but today she thought she would treat herself for working so hard. Being a sociopathic cyber genius on the side of keeping up with schoolwork? Not all it was hyped up to be.

Toward the front of the cafe, a jingling of bells was heard, indicating someone entering through the front door. Mona ignored it at first, getting back to the crossword puzzle in front of her, but when she heard the stomping of feet in her direction, she looked up.

"Hello, Mona," Hanna said viciously as she sank onto one hip in front of Mona's table. Mona, in surprise, closed her crossword and set her coffee down.

"Hanna," she said, startled. "What brings you here on a Friday night? I assumed you'd be out with Caleb."

"You know very well that Caleb is gone," Hanna snapped. "And I bet you know a hell of a lot else that you're not letting on."

Mona sat back in shock, not understanding what Hanna meant. But when she looked closer into Hanna's eyes, seeing a type of betrayal she hadn't seen since she was in Radley, with Hanna doing her makeup and catching her up on the latest gossip despite Mona running her over with a car, she knew.

"Hanna, I can explain - "

"Don't even _think_ about playing the innocent card," Hanna barked. "Not after what you've done to us. I can't believe we even believed you in the first place!"

"That wasn't a lie!" Mona said honestly, standing now. "I really was off of the team during that time."

"But they let you back on," Hanna said seethingly, her eyes turning a shade of gray, very different from the bright blue they usually were, "and you just decided you were going to clap like a seal and go running to their side."

"Hanna - "

"And Ezra?" Hanna continued, rolling right over Mona's attempt at intervening. "You knew it was him all along, and you just didn't tell us."

"If I told you all _everything_ I knew, I would've been toast!" Mona exclaimed. "Last time I revealed information to you all, I nearly got killed. I still need to cover the bruises on my neck with _make up _every morning, in case you've forgotten!"

"Well, Aria has a _fresh_ set of bruises on _her_ neck to remind her of how she was sleeping with the enemy for a solid 2 years," Hanna spat, and Mona froze. Truth be told, she would sympathize with Aria if she were in the same position, but she had to remember how the fired up teenager had unnecessarily snapped at her on multiple occasions and was always the least trusting of the girls when it came to Mona, something Mona didn't appreciate... even if she ended up being right.

"Listen," Mona said carefully. "When this all started, I was new to this whole game. It was never my idea for Ezra to be seeing Aria."

"Well that doesn't change anything," Hanna said sharply, and Mona winced. She was used to that tone of voice being used with her, but she always despised when it had to come out of the mouth of her ex best friend.

"Hanna, you need to keep in mind that this isn't all about you - "

"What a great way to start a conversation!" Hanna said sarcastically, throwing her arms up in the air, only to have them smack down by her side. Mona winced again. So she was mad. That wasn't _completely_ new to her.

"I'm just saying that this is mainly about Alison," Mona continued. "Alison did something horrible to Ezra, _and_ the rest of us, that justifies what we're doing."

"That's no excuse for what he, _and_ the rest of you, have done to us," Hanna countered quietly, shaking her head in disappointment. Mona bowed her head.

"If you knew what she did, I think you'd feel differently," Mona whispered in response. At this, Hanna was confused. She knew Alison was bad, but how bad could she _be_? What could she have done?

Suddenly, the bell up front rang again, and Hanna and Mona turned toward it. Mike Montgomery was walking through the door, clearly distraught.

"Hanna!" he called, shuffling over to her while unintentionally tracking snow into the restaurant.

Hanna turned fully around, facing Mike as she tried not to hint toward her perplexion at him being there - and, more importantly, talking to her. "Mike," she said. "What are you doing here?"

"Honestly?" he said through his heavy breathing, and when Hanna looked closer she realized he was just in a t-shirt and jeans. His cheeks were tinted with pink, and his sneakers weren't even tied. He looked like he had just ran blindly out of the house. "I'm looking for Aria."

"What?" Both Hanna and Mona said, before turning to each other, glaring.

Mike noticed the tension between the two, but warily kept going. "I came home, and she wasn't there. And that's not a problem, usually, but it's pretty late, so I tried her cellphone."

"And?"

Mike sighed as he reached into his pocket, pulling out a white Nokia that belonged to Aria. Hanna gasped, as did Mona, who seemed just as lost.

"She left this," he said grimly. "I've looked all over town, and I have no clue where she is!"

"Aria's missing?" Mona said, shocked. In response, Hanna whipped around toward her in total fury.

"Don't even try to pretend you don't know what's going on," she growled. "I bet you had something to do with this!"

"What? You think I kidnapped her?"

"Wouldn't surprise me!" Hanna barked. "I bet it was _you_ that wrote that note to us!"

"_What_ note?"

"Stop _lying!_"

"Hanna, I swear I didn't - "

"Why should I believe you?!" Hanna shouted, realizing she was crying now. "I believed you when you told us you didn't know who Red Coat was, didn't know who was in charge of this entire thing, and then lo and behold, I find out it's been my English teacher this entire time!"

"What?!" Mike jumped in. "What are you guys talking about?"

"Hanna..." Mona said warningly, not wanting Mike to get into this, as well as any bystanders who were giving them all weird looks. But Hanna was persistent.

"Yeah," she said curtly, turning to Mike now as she wiped any stray tears from her porcelain face. "If I'm making _guesses_ here, I'd go to Mr. Fitz, Mike. I bet _he_ knows where your sister is."

"What did Fitz do to Aria?!" Mike squeaked, but with nothing short of fury in his features.

"_Hanna_," Mona warned again, now resorting to tugging on the sleeve of Hanna's coat, but Hanna pulled it out of her grasp.

"_Don't_ touch me," she snarled, her words smacking Mona across the face. She then turned back to Mike. "Mike, Fitz is not the guy we've made him out to be. If I were you, I'd find him and make him _pay_ for what he did to Aria."

"Did he hurt her?" Mike said lowly, getting angrier and angrier by the minute.

Hanna nodded her head. "And he's going to _keep_ hurting her if we don't do something."

Mike curtly nodded his head like a soldier. "I'll find him," he said determinedly, before spinning on his heel and stalking out of the restaurant, seemingly immune to the cold.

Once he had left, Mona spun Hanna around. "What the hell was that about?!" she just about screamed in her face. "You do realize what could _happen_ to you based on the information you just revealed, right?"

"Hit me with your best shot," Hanna said with perfect articulation, narrowing her eyes in contempt at Mona. "You've taken everything else away, anyway, so at this point I don't _care_ what you do. I'm just tired of you using my friends as your little puppets."

Mona was shocked to say the least. Caleb leaving might have been the best thing for Hanna, because now her skin had thickened and any compassion that she once had for the people she shouldn't have had compassion for had diminished, and all that was left was a heart of steel. She no longer had a homeless foster kid with amazing technological skills and warm brown eyes to hold her down; she was resorted to protect herself now, and she would go to the roughest extremes to do it.

When Mona could say nothing else, Hanna exited the Brew, continuing her search for her best friend.

* * *

**If you guys think this is going to result in some epic showdown between Ezra and Mike... you're absolutely right :D two chapters, my pretties.**

**I have a couple of announcements for you guys: First is, I might not be able to update very much this week, which kinda sucks because there aren't too many chapters of this story left, and the ending is REALLY cool. I mean, you're going to hate me for it, there's no question, but I'm fairly happy with it, so let's see how you all react. I'm pulling a total ShadowsOnTheMoon here, though, so you might as well get out a broom and dust pan to sweep up the contents of your shattered heart now.**

**The second announcement is, I'm currently working on another story! It's going to take a long time to write, but I have it all outlined out, and you can find the description on my profile! And if you have any questions about it, feel free to PM me! Love you guys, see you later!**


	23. Chapter 23

**So... you guys are awesome. I am slowly approaching 200 reviews, and that is both a blessing and a curse for me. It's a blessing, because, well, 200 reviews. And it's a curse because it makes me feel that much more horrible about this chapter, which I just know you're going to hate. Well, some of you... possibly majority of you... depends on your preference. I won't spoil anything, but I will say this chapter contains the very last flashback, or at least the flashbacks that are shown in the beginning of the chapters. These ones kind of explain what is going on behind the scenes, but there's another flashback, that Ezra reveals next chapter to one of the girls, that is ****_huge._**** So you have that to look forward to, but for now, enjoy this chapter, and apologies in advance for the heartbreak as always!**

**(PS: to answer some questions last chapter about how Aria found the lair, it was in the same place as before. They just tightened up security. She addresses that later in this chapter)**

**Okay, NOW enjoy this chapter :)**

* * *

_Ezra opened up the closet doors begrudgingly, taking in the sight of the dozens of black hoodies before him. They weren't all his, of course. They belonged to the different members: one was Mona's, one was Cece's, and there were even ones pushed to the side that belonged to Lucas and Toby before they had abandoned the group. Cece hardly even wore hers anymore, though, since she was so caught up in wearing her new red coat, but he couldn't find it in him to get rid of any of the hoodies. Not because he would feel like he'd be getting rid of a puzzle piece that, when with the other hoodies, made up a jigsaw puzzle that ultimately unified the team - he wasn't THAT sentimental - but because it was evidence. As much as he didn't want to admit it, there was always a small part of him that was extremely skittish that one of the girls would find the jacket, and, on the assumption that no one else in Rosewood could possibly own a black hoodie as well, run a test on it of some sort._

_Ezra reached into the closet, took a hanger off of the rack, and slipped the hoodie off of the wire as he sorted his thoughts. That was perhaps the scariest part of this entire _game_. If he got caught, he'd be done. Screwed. Locked up forever. And even though he knew the others thoroughly enjoyed torturing the girls - Mona especially - he wanted it all to end as soon as possible._

_All he wanted, all he _needed_, was to find Alison. And end her. As soon as he ended her, he could end all of this._

_"_Ezra!_" Mona snapped from behind, and Ezra turned on his heel to face her, his hoodie still draped around his hands. She was sitting at his desk, feet propped up on the table as she took her iced tea in small sips, giving him the fish eye as the glass reached her lips. He guessed he was supposed to be listening to her, but somewhere along the way he had simply forgotten she was in the room._

_He did stuff like that._

_Mona rolled her eyes. "I _said_, do you want to hear my latest plan?" she repeated, giving him the most annoyed look she had to offer (not that it bothered him since he was used to that look by now)._

_Inwardly, Ezra groaned. _Another_ plan? He was getting almost tired of watching the girls bicker endlessly over whatever curveball Mona had thrown at them, especially since every single time resulting in almost nothing. When was Alison supposed to come? Why was nothing working?_

_But maybe he was being impatient. Maybe this time, when Mona listed off her brilliant mission, Alison would come running. If he dismissed it, there was the possibility that he would miss her. This could be the time that they succeeded._

_The last thing Ezra wanted to do was limit himself. He had to keep pushing. As anxious and as worn out as this whole process made him, he had to keep trying. He had put in far too much time, money, and effort into this project to simply back out._

_He cleared his throat as he unzipped the hoodie and slid his arms into it. "Shoot, Mona."_

* * *

"Spencer, you still haven't told me why you're so upset."

Spencer sat on the stool across from Toby, staring blankly ahead as she wondered what to do. One look into his soft blue eyes and she knew she would crumble.

"Aria's missing," she finally whispered, and she could hear the chair that Toby was sitting on screech across the floor as he flinched in reaction.

"She is?" he whispered softly, afraid that if he spoke at a louder volume she would break. Spencer nodded her head, and Toby calmly reached for her hand. She bristled as if she had just touched a hot flame, but ultimately let him wrap his warm hand, coarse from carpentry, around her own, lithe and soft.

"Where do you think she could have gone?" he asked calmly, his voice soothing to the ear, making Spencer confident that if sound were tangible, if she could reach out and touch it, it would feel like the finest silk. Spencer closed her eyes as she squeezed his hand back.

"I don't know," she finally managed out. "I... I looked everywhere, and I can't find her."

"Well, why is she missing?" Toby asked, pressing Spencer further, in a way she didn't _want_ to be pressed. "Did A do something to her?"

"Well... in a way," Spencer continued, as Toby scooched his chair closer to hers and let her put her head onto his shoulder, using his free hand to stroke her hair. Spencer closed her eyes for a minute, letting herself feel safe in his embrace, but she realized she couldn't get comfortable. One of her friends was _not_ safe, so she lifted her head from his shoulder.

Toby blinked in shock. "Spencer - "

"Aria ran off because she found out that Ezra is A," Spencer blurted out before she could stop herself, and Toby froze, his limbs turning to ice. Spencer let out a sound that resembled a hiccup. This was _not_ the reaction she was hoping for.

The way his eyes widened, the way his posture stiffened. It told her exactly what she wanted to know, exactly what she was hoping he would prove _wrong_.

That had been happening a lot lately.

"You knew all along, didn't you?" Spencer said accusingly as she narrowed her eyes at her boyfriend, her trust issues with him being confirmed. "You said your time on the A team was to protect me, but all you've done since you've been off of it is lie to me."

"Spencer - "

"You don't care about me at all," she growled, standing up now, her emotions escalating to high levels she didn't even know she was capable of. "All you care about is _yourself_ and finding out what happened to your mother who's been dead for _years!_"

"_Spencer!_" Toby shot back, wounded by the last statement.

"You took back that RV and kept us from knowing the truth about A," she whispered hurtfully, running over his attempt to reason with her, to gain sympathy. "You just _watched_ Hanna's mom go through the ringer, you watched Emily get kicked off of the swim team for her shoulder and watched her _house_ crash to the ground, and you just skipped on your merry way without even _thinking_ to tell me that Aria's lover was secretly planning her _death_ behind the scenes!"

"Spencer, I had nothing to do with any of that!" Toby argued, standing up from his stool so that he was now towering over her. "I was never a real member of that team, remember?"

"Yeah, to _protect me_." Spencer spat out the words as though they were a rare, disgusting skin disease. "But so far you haven't done anything to prove your loyalty. Every time I even mention A you just cover your ears!"

"I shouldn't have to prove anything to you, Spencer!" Toby exclaimed, getting angry now, something Spencer wasn't used to seeing on him. "I love you, and that's all that matters."

"If you loved me, you would take the people I care about into consideration." Spencer's voice was steadily rising in volume now to the point that she was nearly screaming. Toby inched back at Spencer's sudden assertiveness, but still stood his ground, feeling that she had no reason to be upset at him.

"Spencer, I think you're a little tired and upset right now," he said steadily. "If you want, I can make you some coffee - "

"I don't want coffee," Spencer said shortly, startling both Toby _and_ herself with her denial of her clear craving for caffeine. "I want my best friend back."

"Spencer, we can go out there and try to find Aria - "

"Oh, I'm _finding _Aria," Spencer said aggressively. "But I'm finding her without you."

Toby's crystal blue orbs were widened in shock. "Why are you treating me like this? Last time I checked, we were on good terms!"

"Because last time I checked, I blindly chucked myself into a relationship I didn't even want to be in!" Spencer screamed back at him. "For whatever reason, it took me _this long_ to realize how badly you betrayed me!"

"But you had forgiven me for that!" Toby said desperately. "I made a mistake, but I came back for you!"

"I don't care," Spencer said gruffly, shaking her head as tears started to meet the front of her eyes. No. She couldn't cry now. She wasn't about to cry now.

"You lost my trust the minute you joined the A team," Spencer said tearfully. "And it's taken me until now to realize that you'll never gain it back."

"Spencer - "

"The fact that you kept a secret this big from me," Spencer continued, "shows me what you really think of me."

"Spencer, if I told you about Ezra, they'd have me at my throat," Toby explained gravely. "I was sworn to secrecy, and it was bad enough when they found out about me being a double agent."

"A double agent to protect _me_, or to protect _yourself_?" Spencer challenged, and Toby's throat locked, physically enabling him to say anything else.

Spencer bowed her head, so many raw, wrong emotions going through it. Recently, she had experienced being right about something she didn't even want to be right about, something she had never thought she'd experience in her life. And now, she had experienced winning an argument she didn't even want to win.

This was the least 'Spencer Hastings' she'd ever been.

"I think you should go," she finally said, tears streaming down her face. Toby looked back up at her earnestly, disbelievingly.

"Do you mean - "

"Yes," Spencer said immediately, wobbling her head up and down with trouble. She meant it exactly how it sounded. "I do. Go now, please."

Toby was suddenly so overcome with sadness, with anger, that he didn't know how to react. He wanted to punch something, he wanted to throw something, he wanted to scream into something, but he did none of the above. Instead, he walked over to Spencer, planted one last kiss on her cheek, filled with remorse and sorrow instead of love, and then walked out the door, leaving her to her quiet sobs.

* * *

Aria sat at the desk in the lair, still shaking from the previous encounter. Ezra had thought that she was Mona, and had _attacked_ her. She couldn't help but think that if he had known it was her, he would have reacted much more strongly. She instinctively reached for the bruises at her neck, a gentle reminder to herself that she shouldn't be surprised, that she should know by now what he was capable of, but she couldn't help but feel like this was killing her.

Before, she was searching for any sort of gentleness, kindness, any sort of indication that Ezra might not be all bad, that there was some good there, that the man she had grown to love wasn't a _complete_ lie, but she realized soon enough that this wasn't true.

He was evil. Raw, mercilessly evil. And there was nothing she could do about it.

Except stop him.

With that, she wiped her tears with the back of her sleeve and set to work. She scrolled through files on the computer, but everything was locked with a passcode. She tried desk drawers, but when she came up for air she only had a flashlight and some sticky notes in her hands. But the filing cabinet proved to be slightly more hopeful.

_The A team _would_ have an organizational system_, Aria thought bitterly as she pulled at the handle, but the drawer wouldn't budge. She tried again, thinking the first time she just hadn't pulled hard enough, but it still wouldn't budge.

Aria huffed to herself. Of _course_ it was locked. She was silly to think that sneaking into the A team lair and snooping through all of their stuff was going to solve all of her problems. Surely they had figured out about the _first_ time she and the girls had snuck into the lair, and then had tightened the security a little more so that if the same instance happened again, they couldn't figure anything out.

_Well, we'll see about that_, Aria thought determinedly as she slipped a bobby pin out of her hair.

* * *

**Allow me to explain.**

**We're at the point in the story, and by that I mean nearing the end, where one of the major themes is revealed, and that's letting go. We saw that with Hanna when she told Mona off last chapter, and we're seeing it again right now with Spencer and Toby. In order for the girls to move on with their lives once this whole A thing ends (if it ends, that is...), they have to learn to break ties and make sacrifices. As we move forward and approach the ending, we're going to see more of those sacrifices with each of the girls. It's going to be painful, it's going to be intense, but that's life, and that is growth. These girls are so much stronger than they were at the beginning of the series, and they know that tough decisions sometimes need to be made, and sometimes even at the spur of the moment. It sucks, but it's all a part of moving forward and developing.**

**Also, ****_someone_**** had to tell Toby off. I mean seriously.**

**But anyway, thanks for reading, and don't forget to leave a review for what you thought of this chapter and what you think will happen next!**


	24. Chapter 24

***FUCKING SPOILERS AHEAD DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN 4x15***

**Guys... I have no words to describe that episode. That was perfect. Perfect acting, perfect writing, perfect plot, perfect character exploration, PERFECT reminder of why I still watch this fucking show. Some highlights (this'll take a while):**

**1) Emily. Now, if you're in a PM with me, you know that I'm not the biggest fan of Emily, but tonight... I was with her every second. This season is doing wonderful things for her, and I'm SO happy her relationship with Alison is being explored. When she left her bracelet on the kissing rock, I cried, and her scene with Alison tonight _almost_ made up for not seeing Ali at all last episode.**

**2) Hanna. Oh my god, did Hanna rip my heart out this episode... Ashley Benson, I have NEVER praised your acting more than I have this evening. First of all, MIKE AND HANNA! FINALLY! I was waiting, WAITING, and it finally happened. I hope we get a Mike/Aria convo after this, because this is gold. GOLD I TELL YOU! But there was so much happening with Hanna this episode, with the tension between her and the girls, and her feelings about Caleb, and her feelings about the journal, and her feelings about Travis, and she held it all back until she was back at her house, and then she just... lets loose. Cries. Breaks. That, for me, was the most magical scene in the episode. I was entranced.**

**3) Aria. This episode was all about character exploration, and that meant character exploration for Aria as well. We know she's a romantic, but this episode wasn't as in touch with that side of her, which was very nice. One thing I love about Aria is she's a mediator. A fixer. Emily even says once, "We all know you like to fix things"! She tries to fix things with her family, with her friends, with all of the people she cares about, and tonight, while Spencer and Emily were snapping at Hanna, she was always the one pulling them back, being Switzerland and calming everything down. She hates conflict, and she knows that the last thing the girls need is for them to be fighting. We also got to see the neurotic side of her, which is the side of Aria that reminds me so much of myself. She's a spaz, she's anxious, and the fact that she had to keep the secret about Ezra made it that much worse, and that much more FUN, to watch.**

**4) EzrA. God do I LOVE EzrA. As much as I love Ezria, and as much as all of their scenes together now break my heart, EzrA is one of the main reasons this show is back on its feet. Ian Harding has an insanely cool gift of looking mindblowingly creepy, and mindblowingly like a KITTEN, at the same time. It's riveting. I am physically unable to tear my face away from the screen when he's on. He's brilliant. As much as I hate to say it... I hope he stays like this, and they don't pull a Toby and get Ezria back together. I lost so much respect for Spencer when she went back to Toby. I don't want to lose respect for Aria, too.**

**5) Spencer. Tonight, we learned something interesting about Spencer: she is strictly book smart. So many boneheaded moves on her part that I lost count. But the one that sticks out in my mind is her raising her voice at the Brew to stand up to Mrs. D. I'm going to tie more into that in the next section, but just... REALLY, Spencer? Her moving in with Toby was another show of her impulsivity, but all in all... I loved it. This just proves that Spencer is Slytherin to the bone. She goes with her gut, occasionally (and by that I mean always) doesn't think things through, and that's all because she's following what her heart wants. Her heart wants to protect her family, so she barges in and screams at Mrs. D without a second thought. Her heart wants Toby, so the minute her father mildly/technically grants her permission, she leaps into his arms. Everything Spencer Hastings does is for a reason: it makes sense in her heart. And I'm so glad this episode tied into that.**

**6) Sparia. Just fucking Sparia. We got Sparia seductive glances, Sparia comforting each other, SPARIA IN A FUCKING CLOSET... the list never ends. And was I the only one seeing the parallels with Spencer being protective of her family and Aria being protective of hers? This means several exciting things. First, we saw the differences in the way they handled it. Now, Aria is the tiniest little pitbull, and is EXTREMELY defensive when it comes to her family, so she doesn't ever hesitate to be protective and stand up for them. But as I said before, she doesn't like conflict, which is why whenever she stands up to Meredith or anyone else threatening her family or someone she cares about, she keeps it between them, and doesn't get others involved. That's the Ravenclaw inside of her strategizing and knowing her limits, and knowing how to work around those limits. But the Slytherin inside of Spencer takes everything up to 11. She's done this when she attacks Mona in 3x19, and she did it tonight, meaning: "Fuck everyone around me. And speaking of fucking, STOP FUCKING MY DAD!" Both approaches got nothing accomplished. And THAT leads to the second, which is the future Sparia bonding times that this can lead to. They're both upset about their lovers being A, they're both upset about their lying, cheating fathers, IT'S PERFECT!**

**And now that I've essentially bored you to death on my analysis on that episode (seriously, though, for an episode completely void of Vanderjesus to be that good is impressive as fuck), I'll leave you with this chapter. Something big happens. BIG! This chapter is a major turning point in the story, and now, things heat up. If you thought they'd heated up before, they're heating up even more now. Just read on to see ;)**

* * *

Emily charged into the jewelry shop, riled up with fear, but trying to convey anger. By the time her footsteps led her to the front counter and she was standing in front of none other than Cece Drake, she didn't even know which one was showing on her face.

Cece looked up from helping a customer to see Emily charging up to her. "Oh, hey girl," Cece said in her usual charming way, as if it was so easy to appear innocent in front of the _lesbian_. "What can I help you with? Got a hot date tonight with your boo? I bet I can sass up that denim top a bit - "

"I don't need to sass up anything for Paige," Emily said defensively. "_You_, on the other hand, have some explaining to do."

Cece stopped cold, surprised that the tan, usually kind girl before her had to potential to be so aggressive. "Will you excuse us for a minute?" Cece said to the woman before her, who was holding a few items that she wanted to purchase, before she pulled Emily to the side.

"How are you even alive?" Emily asked bluntly. "Last time we saw you, you had fallen off a staircase a solid story above us!"

Cece just rolled her eyes. "I just twisted my ankle," she said annoyedly. "Aria may have taken a few kung fu lessons, but she's not _that_ good."

"Listen to me," Emily said threateningly. "We know who you all are, and the jig is up. This all needs to _stop_."

"And who's going to make us?" Cece retorted in her usual cocky fashion. "_You?_"

"There's no escape this time," Emily said darkly. "The minute we give the police your names, anything you try to do to hurt us goes against your record - "

"We still know all of your secrets," Cece hissed. "Don't forget that part. We know things that could assure a lifetime in prison for all four of you, no matter what we did to you."

"I'd prefer prison over having to live under your constant torture," Emily spat. "I just want my _life_ back!"

"Would you _really_ have a life back if we left you alone?" Cece said quizzically, and Emily paused. What did she mean by _that?_

"If you were arrested, what of your future?" Cece said temptingly. "Your swimming scholarship, your parents financial standing, your plans with _Paige_..."

Emily winced as Cece kept listing ultimatums, but Cece kept going.

"All of that would go to waste if you were to leave them," Cece said coldly, getting closer and closer to Emily's ear as she said it. Emily could smell a jasmine scented perfume on Cece's neck that she normally would've thought pleasing, but today she just felt that it was unwelcoming.

"You can get it all back, though, no questions asked," Cece said simply. "All you need to do is hand over Alison."

"I don't know where she is," Emily snapped. "And even if I did, I wouldn't let you do anything to her."

"Then this is just going to be a never-ending cycle, isn't it?" Cece said sinisterly, the look on her face resembling that of the snake in the Garden of Eden, constantly tempting Emily to come closer, to give in, but Emily had to resist. She couldn't do that to Alison. Not after they had just found her...

Suddenly, there was a _crash_ heard from outside, and the sound of cars honking. "What the hell?" Cece muttered as she strutted past Emily, with Emily not too far behind, out of the boutique and into the street.

The sight before their eyes was not one that they were expecting.

Mike Montgomery was throwing numerous punches, throwing himself into the window of a black BMW. When Cece and Emily walked closer, they saw that the driver was covered in blood.

"Get off of me, you twerp!" Ezra shouted, trying to wriggle free out of Mike's grip, but Mike kept striking.

"You son of a bitch!" Mike shouted at the top of his lungs as he continued to beat Ezra. "What did you do to my sister?!"

"Mike, stop!" Emily screeched, running over to Mike's side and pulling him off of a wounded Ezra. Mike struggled, flailing about as he kept taking swings at Ezra, but Emily had muscle from swimming, and she used it to hurl him to the side and lock him into a still position.

Meanwhile, Cece had run inside, but ran out with several napkins as she helped Ezra out of the car. She took a few seconds to wipe him somewhat clean, but after taking care of that she gave him a merciless thump on the head.

"Ow!" Ezra cried, still in pain from the jabs Mike had given him. "Why'd you do that?"

"You _crashed_ the _car!_" Cece scolded, pointing to the BMW, which was dented from running into a lamppost on the sidewalk. "Can you do _anything?_"

Ezra sighed. By the number of times he had gotten that lately, he wasn't sure he could. "He jumped in front of me, right in the middle of the street!" he explained, pointing to Mike. "I couldn't just run into him!"

"You're going to wish you did," Mike threatened as he lunged again, but Emily pulled him back.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Cece asked. "Why are you beating him?"

"He hurt my sister!" Mike shouted. "He's going to pay!"

"Guys, can we take this somewhere else?" Emily whispered, pointing to the numerous bystanders who were wondering what was going on. Some of them even had their cell phones out, ready to call 911. Cece held up a hand, assuring them that there was no need to do that, as she ushered them into a nearby alley.

"What's going on?" Ezra asked as he held the napkin up to his nose, yelping slightly at the pressure. "Why do you think I hurt Aria?"

"She's missing!" Mike seethed. "And I know it has something to do with you!"

"Look, whatever is going on between me and Aria, you need to stay out of it," Ezra warned.

"And why should he?" Emily asked, appalled. "You've been torturing her, _and_ the rest of us, for two years! You've blackmailed, you've hacked, and the entire time she thought you might show some sort of affection for her!"

"I do!" Ezra cried out, and suddenly everyone gasped. Ezra, realizing his mistake, clasped a hand over his mouth, but Emily narrowed her eyes.

"I'm not believing that - "

"Wait." Mike squinted as he held a hand out, trying to process everything. "I thought Mona was the one blackmailing you guys."

"She was," Emily confirmed as she stared at Ezra with more contempt than Ezra thought she was capable of, staring directly into his soul. "Until we found out who was _really_ pulling the strings this entire time."

Mike widened his eyes, but just as quickly had them return to normal size as he lunged for Ezra again. Ezra screamed, and Cece and Emily pulled Mike back again.

"But wait, go back to what you said before," Cece said, jumping in now as she let her arms go slack from around Mike. "Since when do you have feelings for her?"

"I wouldn't go _that_ far!" Ezra covered up. "But I... I mean it's... it's not like that affects anything!"

"Of course it affects something!" Emily barked. "It affects _everything_! That's like compensating for your actions!"

"I'm not compensating for anything!" Ezra said defensively, his eyes darting back and forth between Cece and Emily as he tried to figure out whose side he was on. "It's just... listen, this whole thing - "

"Tell them."

Ezra had a double take as he turned to Cece, and he realized her eyes were filled with sadness, but also permission. Permission to do what, though? "I'm... sorry?"

"Tell them what she did to you," Cece said seriously. "I think it's time."

Ezra looked at her in surprise, in bewilderment, but finally he bowed his head. She was right. "Well, it all started at the beginning of junior year of college..."

* * *

_Ezra looked up at the normally perky blonde before him, whose features were now contorted into a mix of threat and amusement. He then looked down at the white plastic tube that she had dropped in front of him. "What is this?"_

_Alison gave him one of her sympathetic smiles as she gave the tube, shining with a bright negative sign, a little flick. "That, Ezra Fitzgerald," she said knowingly, "is a pregnancy test. _My_ pregnancy test."_

_Feeling like he was about to throw up, Ezra lurched forward and out of his chair. "Alison, what the hell are you talking about?"_

_"Relax," she giggled. "It's negative, moron. Don't you see the sign?"_

_"But... did that come from me?" he asked, hardly able to get his words out properly. Alison rolled her eyes._

_"Well, who else would it have come from?" she said simply._

_"I'm not stupid, Alison. I know you've probably seen a hundred guys before me."_

_"And you stayed with me because..." Alison left the sentence open ended for Ezra to finish, but he ultimately never did._

_Finally, Ezra sat back down, scratching at a stain on his Hollis sweatpants. "I don't think we can go that far again," he said softly. "I mean, think of the _consequences_ - "_

_"That's why I came to you," Alison interrupted, and when he looked back up at her, he hardly noticed any amusement. She just looked serious. "I've already gotten a taste of the consequences."_

_If Ezra were drinking anything at the moment, he would've spit it right out. "Sorry?"_

_"When I first took the test, it came up as a false positive," Alison said carefully, noting how Ezra's eyes were increasingly getting larger in size the more she talked. "And... and I told my parents."_

_"You _what?_" Ezra exploded, standing up now._

_"That's not all," Alison continued, cringing. "I... I kinda told them about you."_

_Ezra paused, his bones turning to concrete and his brain turning to churned butter._

_"Alison," he began, his voice quivering just as much as his limbs were. "I'm 21... you do realize that - "_

_"They could report you?" Alison finished. "I-I know... and they did."_

_Ezra's throat suddenly felt dry, and every time he opened it, it was almost as if a cloud of dust were escaping it. Suddenly, unable to contain himself, he lunged over the table._

_"You little bitch," he seethed. "You _wanted_ this to happen!"_

_Alison kept the act of fear going for a few more seconds, until she cracked a small smile. "You got me."_

_Ezra gawked up at her, and Alison simply shrugged. "You're the one who didn't want us to be seen in the first place," she said cockily. "You were _embarrassed_ of me, weren't you?"_

_"I wasn't embarrassed of you, I was trying to avoid something like _this_ from happening!" Ezra just about shouted. "You're the one that pushed us having sex in the first place, you're the reason we're where we are today! I knew something like this was going to happen, and you don't even care!"_

_"You need to understand something about being with me," Alison whispered, getting up close into Ezra's face to the point that Ezra could smell her mint gum as her hot breath met his face. "Go big, or go home. And sometimes that home could mean prison."_

_With that, Alison started to walk away, but Ezra wouldn't let her. He got out from behind the picnic bench in Hollis park - a public place, he constantly reminded himself - and grabbed Alison by the arm._

_"OW!" Alison yelped, and Ezra automatically loosened his grip before looking around. As far as he could tell, there were no bystanders paying attention. It was late at night, and any other students at the park were chugging bottles of beer as they wrapped their arms around their girlfriends and tried to impress them by diving face first into the grass._

_With that, Ezra tightened his grip again._

_"If you think that you can have me arrested just for wanting to take it slow with you, then this relationship is over," Ezra growled. "There's no way I'm continuing seeing someone as sick as you."_

_"And there's no way I want to see a pussy like you," Alison shot back. "You should just be glad that I told you before the authorities got to you."_

_Upon hearing this, Ezra's grip softened. "What do you mean?"_

_Alison shrugged again, that infamous smug smile gracing her face again. It only made Ezra want to slap her._

_"Get a haircut," she suggested. "Transfer to the smaller campus, disinherit yourself, change your name - "_

_"Change my name?"_

_"You'd be surprised what a simple switch from 'Fitzgerald' to 'Fitz' can do," Alison said slimily. Ezra just stared at her in disbelief. He would have to turn his entire life around, have to start completely from scratch, all because of one mistake that was primarily her fault. It was because of her that the police were after him and he'd have to go into hiding, that he'd have to lock his doors at night, that his heart rate would probably go up for months to come whenever a security guard was placed on campus._

_All because of Alison DiLaurentis._

_When she saw Ezra's features get steadily darker, Alison made her grand escape. She slipped out of his grip, hardly giving him any reaction time to go after her. Ezra blinked, reorienting himself, but then charged after her at the speed of light. He chased her for nearly 10 minutes until he was out of breath and on a portion of campus he didn't even recognize, and Alison was nowhere in sight._

_Ezra let himself have a few heaving breaths, until he realized his heaves had transformed into cries. He was crying now. He had lost everything, all because of a teenager he thought he could just see on the side._

_"FUCK YOU, ALISON DILAURENTIS!" he shouted at the top of his lungs as more tears streamed down his face. "FUCK YOU! I COULD KILL YOU! I COULD ABSOLUTELY FUCKING KILL YOU!"_

_She never answered._

* * *

Everyone was speechless. No one made a move, no one made a sound. The air felt dry, and the sun that peeked through the clouds such a short time ago was now nonexistent. Darkness surrounded the gang, and no one knew what to do next.

"So that's what this was all about," Emily finally whispered, and Ezra nodded his head. He was leaned against a dumpster nearby, nursing his head in his hands as he let a few stray tears fall.

"I had to change my name, I had to switch campuses, I had to leave my entire life behind," Ezra said morosely, "all because of one tiny mistake that she completely took advantage of."

"But... why would she do something like that?" Emily asked, not understanding. The Alison she knew wouldn't go _that_ far... would she?

"Because in her eyes, everyone is expendable," Cece said, and Emily whipped to the side, turning her attention toward her. Instead of looking as cocky as she usually did, Cece almost looked... vulnerable?

"She got me kicked out of college," Cece said bluntly, as though she were trying to get the words out as quickly as possible to get rid of the pending burden of them. "She doesn't care about anyone, and based on how it's taken us two years and we _still_ haven't caught her, she clearly doesn't care about any of you."

"That's not true!" Emily cried, while still trying to compose herself and not appear weak. "Sh-she wouldn't. She d-does care about us!"

Suddenly, there was a chime sounding that clearly was coming from someone's phone. Ezra slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled his own out, but his face fell as soon as he saw who is was.

He and Cece shared a look, and just like that they started off.

"Wait!" both Mike and Emily cried as they chased after them, and Emily caught onto Ezra's arm. "Where do you think you're going?"

"I... I have to go," he said remorsefully. "But just remember what I said. I _do_ care about Aria, and I don't hate all of you the way you think that I do."

"Are you seriously going back to doing what you've always been doing to us?" Emily exclaimed, bewildered to say the least. "After all that we just discussed - "

"This was never about you!" Ezra said coldly, so much so that Emily's grip loosened.

Ezra yanked his arm away as he glared at her. "That's the problem with you girls. You're so caught up in your own problems, that you think that _those _problems have to be everyone _else's_ problems. Well guess what: they don't. I'm not doing this for you, I'm doing this for _me_. For my own peace of mind, I need to find Alison... and end her."

"I won't let you - "

"_You can't stop me!_" Ezra hissed into her face, stunning her completely. Even after Emily had found out that Ezra was A, she couldn't picture it. She pictured the caring teacher that had stood in the front of the classroom for two years, had been so good to Aria, and had been a mentor for each of the girls in his own way.

She never pictured he would be as evil and twisted as he was now.

But before Emily could even comment on it, Ezra had run off, leaving her standing in the middle of the street, with Mike by her side, as the two watched them run off.

* * *

**Boom.**


	25. Chapter 25

**Sorry for taking so long to update, guys. This week has really just been crazy. But this next chapter is filled with action, as are the chapters for the rest of the story! If my count is correct, we have about two chapters left :( I wish this story didn't have to end because you all have been so wonderful and supportive, but it does. But you guys got me past 200 reviews, which is incredible! Shout out to Bagilia for sending in those last few reviews to get me up there. Glad you're finally out from exams!**

**Since I'm terrible about replying to reviews, I've been ignoring some pressing questions, most of all: what can we expect for the ending for Ezria? Well... it's not good. Ezra may have admitted he cares about Aria at least slightly, but that doesn't confirm a happy ending for this story. I've been saying since the beginning that the ending of this story is not a happy one. If you're a die hard Ezria fan and you think you're going to hate me if they don't get a happy ending, I suggest you stop reading now. If you think your heart can handle it, by all means go ahead! But I warned you... anyway, enjoy this chapter, and leave a review at the end!**

* * *

Spencer steered down the streets of Rosewood as she tried to dry her tears with the back of her sleeve, a hard task as she strongly believed in driving safely and keeping her eyes on the road at all times.

She and Toby were over, Aria was nowhere in sight, and for all she knew Mona, Cece, and Ezra could be doing a world of damage. Everything was suddenly tumbling downward into a giant whirlpool of damage that she would never be able to crawl out of.

Just as she lost her train of thought and her vision started to blur with tears, her cell phone rang. Spencer sniffled loudly as she picked it up. "H-hello?"

"_Spencer_?" Emily asked worriedly on the other end. "_Is everything okay?_"

Spencer sniffled loudly again, before clearing her throat. "Just peachy, Em," she said hoarsely. "What've you got? Did you find Aria?"

"_No, but I did find something else out entirely that might just end this entire thing_," Emily said determinedly. "_I need you to meet me somewhere_."

"Oh, okay," Spencer said abruptly, a little caught off guard as she put on her turn signal. "Where?"

She could hear Emily gulp on the other end. "_Ravenswood_."

Spencer slammed on her brakes, nearly dropping her phone in the process. "Ravenswood_?!"_

"_Yes_," Emily said confidently. "_And bring Hanna_."

"But Emily - "

Spencer could say no more, because the last thing she heard was a _click_ on the other end, signifying that the conversation was over.

* * *

It took several minutes, as her bobby pin was rusty and kept twisting the wrong way, but finally Aria was able to break into the filing cabinet. She sifted through papers, file reports, and markers that had dates written on the tabs, until she finally got to one listing the current month and year.

_That makes the most sense_, Aria thought to herself as she pulled out the files, holding it in her hands as she flipped through the pages, skimming them for information, which there was a lot of.

Her eyes danced back and forth, back and forth, reading and rereading sentences until she understood every word, every letter. She could feel her heart leap into her throat as she crumpled the file in her hands, wanting so badly to rip it into shreds.

"So you've read it," a deep voice from the front of the room said, not even in the form of a question, but a statement. Aria leaped 2 feet in the air as she whipped around, and she felt her skin prickle at the sight.

There he was. Ezra Fitz, in all of his gorgeous glory.

And for the first time, she was actually seeing him in his black hoodie.

With a shaking hand, Aria held up the file as she glared straight through him. "So it all leads up to this." She spoke quietly, fearful that any louder and her voice would start trembling. "You... you were going to - "

"You need to understand something," Ezra said darkly, his voice like an icicle slicing into her heart, as he walked forward. "You may not like the answer, but you need to understand something: as much as I don't like hurting you or the others, I have to if it means getting to Alison."

Aria gulped loudly. "You were going to... _kill_ us?"

Ezra bowed his head, turning away, as the sight of the hurt in her hazel eyes was too painful. "The torture just wasn't enough... but we finally got a hold of the right technology. A new adapter set came in recently that not only repaired the sound system in the lair, but also dealt with the wiring in our weapons so that we could easily clean up our tracks. It wouldn't have left a trace."

Aria let out a shaky, anger filled breath. "You really need to get to Alison that badly? She's been dead for years now!"

"You and I _both_ know that she's not, Aria!" Ezra shouted, and Aria tried her hardest not to wince at his sharp tone. "Don't think that I don't know what you found out when you girls came to Ravenswood. _Don't_ underestimate me."

"How could I?" Aria said in a mock tone of admiration. "It's _impossible_ to underestimate you sick, _sick_ humans."

"Aria - "

"I can understand you wanting to do something to me," she spat, running over his interruption like a steamroller. "If I annoyed you, if I made your life less _bearable_ by holding you up in your apartment with me and making you watch every single black and white film known to man, I'm sorry. But don't you _dare_ go near my friends!"

"I'll do whatever I need to do if it means getting back at that bitch for what she did to me!" Ezra shot back. "You're all just pawns in a larger game of chess, and the sooner you girls _realize_ that, the sooner this entire thing can end. You may have thought you were clever, sitting in my classroom and sending me petty glares from the far side of the room, pretending that you couldn't be broken, but you _can_ be broken! And you _will!_ In fact, you're supposed to be the _first_ to be broken!"

Aria's heart stopped. "What... what is that supposed to mean?"

At this, Ezra couldn't help it. This was it. He was so close. He was in the room with her, so close to wrapping his hands around her neck, and the ball would get rolling. Alison would come running. As much as he hated to admit it, he knew that deep down Alison cared for the girls. He would never tell the girls this since he wanted them - hell he wanted _everyone_ - to hate Alison as much as he did, but he knew she wanted more than anything to come rushing to their aid.

And with this final blow, she most definitely would. Little torturous tactics had done nothing, but by going this far, he knew the job would be done. Any remorse, any second thoughts, any cold feet along the way would be forgotten the minute he got a hold of Alison DiLaurentis once and for all. He'd be a free man. He could leave Rosewood and start his life over voluntarily, without being forced into it.

Everything would soon be _right._ All because of this very moment.

"Because of what you know, and what you revealed to the girls," Ezra began coyly, realizing the game he was now playing, "the team and I have decided that you will be the first to go. Once shots are fired at you, Alison will run to the rescue, and by the time we get to the other girls - "

Ezra didn't get a chance to finish, because before he could react Aria was charging toward him full force. He jumped back in surprise, but next thing he realized she was on top of him, and he was on the ground. Ezra struggled, trying to get out of her grip, but she was running on pure adrenaline right now, smacking him about, most likely to stall in some way. _Damn, why are all of the Montgomerys so STRONG?_

"Doesn't feel so good when you're on the bottom, huh?" she growled in his face. Without thinking, Ezra slapped her across the cheek. Aria yelped, reaching for her cheek, and he took this time to push her off of him and scuttle his way into a standing position.

But just as he had gotten off of the ground, he heard a loud _CLANG_, and when he looked down, he gasped.

Aria, upon catching her breath, followed his eyes, and gasped as well.

The knife. His _father's _knife. Mona had retrieved it from Cece for him weeks ago, and he had forgotten it had been tucked away in his pocket ever since.

Ezra looked up in fear, and saw Aria's eyes glowing in the dark like that of a cat, calculating as the cogs turned in her head and she studied him, _searched him._

Shit.

* * *

"Emily! Emily!"

Emily pulled her Burberry scarf tighter around her neck, blocking out the cold, as she turned toward Spencer and Hanna's calls.

"We came as fast as we could," Hanna said, huffing and puffing as she bent over, hands on her knees, to catch her breath. "What did you want to tell us?"

"And why did we have to come all the way down here?" Spencer asked, looking around her at the creepy, gothic looking buildings and the flocks of black crows flying overhead. She was less than happy to be back in this town, she could say.

"Look, I don't have time to explain everything," Emily said hastily, "but the A team is more merciless than we thought."

"What do you mean?" Hanna asked. "We always knew that they were - "

"Well, even _that_ was an understatement," Emily continued. "Guys, they'll do anything, _anything_ to get to Alison, even if it means doing horrible, _horrible_ things to us in the process."

"So what? We're their little puppets, you're saying?" Spencer asked, growing angrier by the second at the thought of someone using her like that.

Emily nodded her head. "They don't care what happens to us, they just want Alison. Alison did something _horrible_ to Ezra, and to an extent the others."

"What did she do?"

"I can't explain now," Emily said, "but it almost _justifies_ everything they're doing to get to her. But that just means we're in even more danger than we were before, which means - "

"Which means we need to find Aria as quickly as possible before they do something to her," Spencer finished, her heart suddenly racing. "Is that what all of this is about? Do they have her captive? Is that why we're here?"

"I don't know," Emily said, somewhat defeatedly, "but everything has somehow led back to this place, and the lair is right up there, so I thought it'd be a good - "

Before Emily could finish her sentence, there was a long scream coming from an upper level, and the girls halted as their blood streams ran short, turning to arctic temperatures.

"It's Aria," Spencer whispered. "That's Aria's scream."

"C'mon!" Hanna said as she charged toward the door to the stairwell, starting up it. Spencer followed, and Emily started to as well, but then she heard another scream, this one not coming from anywhere in the building.

"Help me! Help me!"

Emily paused, processing. That sounded a lot like...

"Emily, help me!"

_Alison_.


	26. Chapter 26

**Again, sorry for the delayed update! Allow me to explain myself: I'm a little bit skittish about the ending of this story. I'm sort of afraid you guys are going to hate it, yet I don't really know any other way I can change it. Ever since I started writing this story, I knew in my mind how it was going to end, but now that I'm here, at the last two chapters in this story, where the biggest two events are about to happen... I'm at a loss. I guess I'm just sad that this story is over, but I'm also genuinely scared of what you guys are going to think of this ending...**

**Fortunately, I have had the help of two lovely proofreaders to give me the courage to post it, and it meant more than they can even comprehend. I just need to give them a shoutout: One is ****eveningshades1107****, who you'll probably recognize as the most hilarious reviewer in the history of reviewers. And her charisma doesn't stop there: you guys should totally check out her stories. She's written two so far, and they're already two of my favorites, so give her a follow to see what else she might have in store.**

**And the next proofreader is the wonderful ****ihavealifeiswear****, whose talent knows no bounds. This girl is the reason I am on fanfiction. Her story Challenging Fate is what inspired me to pursue writing, and on this site no less. I would not be where I am today if it weren't for her, and the best part is she doesn't even REALIZE how amazing she is. If you haven't read her stories, what are you doing with your life? Go onto her profile right now! She's a true gem, totally check out her work, especially Challenging Fate and Haunting, where I personally think her writing shines. And she has a PLL/HG crossover coming up later this year, and I just ****_know_**** it's going to be fabulous, so keep an eye out for that as well.**

**Now, for those of you wishing for me to express my feelings on the last episode (SPOILERS AHEAD), I literally cannot properly convey them on here. All I'll say is: Ezra is a big fat LIAR, Spencer needs to learn to mind her own business and stop treating Emily like a child, Hanna needs to stop being AWESOME (tell me I'm not the only one who laughed my ass off when she walked over to turn off the stereo with the romantic music that we thought was just background music. That was my favorite part of the episode, alongside "Do you kiss all of your friends like that?"), Jake needs to stop making me like him/feel bad for him, and Vanderjesus needs to COME BACK! Calling it right now: Mona is dating Mike Montgomery. I feel it in my bones, I just KNOW she is. Tell me your thoughts on the last episode! (END SPOILERS)**

**And now, without further ado, here's your next chapter! Enjoy, guard your heart with your life (I mean that, this chapter will do things to you that you will not want it to do), and don't forget to review at the end! :)**

* * *

Ezra and Aria stared at each other for several minutes, wondering who was going to make the first move. Ezra felt like a mountain lion about to pounce onto its prey, but he knew Aria would hate to think of herself as any kind of prey.

Aria. _His_ Aria. He had done it. He was really going to betray her in the worst way possible. After two years of pretending, two years of letting her into his apartment and making her tea, of taking her out to art shows, of fighting for a love that she had believed was right, he was ending it right here.

For the first time since the whole "war" had started, he started to realize how truly heartless he had the capacity to be.

"Do it," he finally said, the words falling from his mouth like a stone, bouncing off of his teeth with perfect accuracy. "What are you waiting for?"

Aria just continued to stare at him, waiting for his next move, but she couldn't read him. After so long, she had really thought she had known him, but she didn't know a thing about him.

She couldn't figure him out at all.

Taking a chance, yet without even taking a breath, Aria lunged.

* * *

Emily raced back down the remaining stairs, searching for the source of the sound. When she got to the bottom, she saw it.

Cece and Mona had gotten a hold of Alison, who was cloaked in her red coat and was probably hiding in the shadows this entire time while they all ran about like chickens with their heads cut off. Emily's breath caught in her throat, but nevertheless she ran over to where her old best friend, and her first love, was being strangled, in a nearby alleyway.

"Looks like Loser Mona's finally getting the upper hand, huh?" Mona said hungrily as she shook Alison, who was so weak that she couldn't fight back even the pint sized girl, who weighed all of 100 pounds. Alison let out long cries, tears streaming down her cheeks as Mona pounded her against the wall with all of her might, over and over and -

"That's enough, Mona!" Cece snapped, pulling Mona off of her as Alison sunk to the ground.

Mona stared back at her, her bewilderment emphasized by the shadows of her black hood. "What are you talking about? I was just getting started!"

Just as Alison was about to try to escape, Cece stepped on the hem of her coat. Alison fell back with an _oomph_, and Cece pulled her up by the scruff of the coat.

"Stop!" Emily shouted, and the three stared back at her, suddenly acknowledging her existence.

"D-don't hurt her," Emily said, her voice, and her limbs, quaking with fear as she saw Cece pull something long, black, and powerful out of her coat pocket.

A gun.

They had done it. They had found Alison, after so many years, and they were going to end her. She had just gotten her back, and now she had to lose her again. For good.

Interrupting her thoughts was a shrill laugh that came from none other than Mona Vanderwaal.

"Are you serious right now?" she screeched as she threw her head back, cackling happily, not fitting the mood of the situation at all. "Do you even realize what this girl has _done?_"

"Emily," Alison said, her blue eyes wide with terror, and tears. "Emily, please, don't let them do anything."

"She made my life a living hell up until I was 14," Mona listed aggressively, her teeth bared like fangs, "she got Cece kicked out of college, and she nearly got Ezra arrested without even batting an eyelash!"

"Can't you just forgive her for all of that stuff?" Emily asked earnestly as she watched helplessly while her best friend was being held to her death. But Mona merely smirked at this.

"What about what she's done to you?" she pointed out, her voice dropping now. "Are you forgetting how she taunted you with your sexuality, even after sharing what you thought was a loving kiss?"

"Emily, don't listen to them - "

"And what about what she did to your little girlfriend?" Cece butted in, giggling madly. "_Pigskin_, was it?"

Emily flinched at the infamous nickname, but Cece kept going.

"She tortured you and your friends even _before_ we joined in on the fun," Cece said sinisterly, still keeping a firm hold of a flailing Alison against the brick wall. "And she's _been_ torturing you along with us!"

"_Emily!"_ Alison cried desperately, but this just made Cece grip her hands around Alison's neck even harder until Alison's eyes were bulging out of her head as she gasped for air.

"She could've come and saved all of you, but she just sat back and _watched_," Cece said tauntingly, digging further and further into Emily's subconscious as she dug her fingers further and further into Alison's neck. She was reminding her of the dark times, reminding her of how stupid she was to even fall for Alison in the first place.

Emily watched, her eyes darting back and forth between Mona, whose eyes shone with a fire she'd never seen on anyone; Cece, who had a hungry, malicious look in her tan features as she hovered over her prey with a gun; and Alison, who was clinging on for the dear life she was begging to be able to keep.

And then a coldness took over Emily as she thought of how pathetic Alison was. Of how she had made Emily lose hope, made her think she was really dead, and didn't even seem to care; all she cared about was her own safety. All this time she was in hiding while Emily was trying to take on 3 different jobs to clean up the messes Alison had indirectly made.

She had to endure years of torture that Alison could've come out and stopped, but didn't find it necessary to. And because of that, A wasn't the real enemy here. A was never the real enemy.

Alison's actions and decisions had made her just as bad, or even _worse,_ than A.

"Emily!" Alison whispered, her voice so soft that Emily had to strain to hear it. "I... I love you."

Emily closed her eyes. Now her thoughts were confirmed.

"Well, that's great," she said, disgust clear in her tone as she turned on her heel and walked away, trying to tune out Alison's screams in the distance as she kept walking toward the building.

"EMILY! EMILY, COME BACK! EMILY, I KNOW YOU LOVE ME, TOO! I KNOW YOU DO! COME AND SAVE ME!"

This kept going until Emily had reached the stairwell, until there was no more voice, no more cries, no more sound. Just the sound of a gunshot, and the sound of Emily's tears trickling down the frame of her face.

"I loved you, too," she whispered to herself.

* * *

Ezra and Aria both dove to the ground, fighting over dominance of the knife. Ezra thought he would have an advantage since he was so much taller than Aria, but what Aria lacked in height she gained in strength, and wit. She dodged his every attempt to stab her, and didn't even need to recuperate. She simply got back onto her knees and tried to grapple the weapon, seemingly forgetting that she was battling her ex-boyfriend.

Finally, when Ezra had taken a swing with the knife, Aria used this to her advantage with perfect timing. She ducked just in time to spring back up, giving Ezra a firm punch in the nose.

Ezra recoiled, and in that time Aria had propelled herself onto him, slipping the knife out of his fingers gracefully and into hers.

"You got me," Ezra said defeatedly, but there was still a small beacon of hope left in his voice. Even so, Aria disregarded it. She felt no love left for the man before her. She held the knife up, ready to do the deed, ready to end everything, but before she could she looked into Ezra's eyes.

She saw the darkness, the ice cold glint that she hadn't noticed back when they were dating, but she still, now, saw something familiar in them.

It wasn't quite love, but it was something along the lines of kindness, of gentleness. If she looked closely enough, she could find the man she had fallen in love with in those eyes.

Aria gulped back tears as she spoke in a quivering tone. "Just tell me one thing," she said quietly, hardly able to even choke her words out. Ezra looked up at her, confused toward why he didn't have a knife plunged into his chest at this point, but he nodded his head, with some difficulty given his restrictions.

"Was any of it real?" she whispered, and Ezra would've jolted in shock if he were physically able.

Was any of it real? That was a question he was still trying to answer for himself. He had gone into this hoping it would end soon, hoping he could find Alison and then leave these girls alone. The thought of a double life always scared him, and having to plunge deeper into it as the days kept going by wasn't something that was easy for him, nor was it easy for him to pretend to love someone that he didn't.

But did he love her? There was always something tugging at the back of his head, telling him that he absolutely could, but he had done his very best to ignore that part of his brain for fear of conflicting with the team. But the more Alison stayed missing and the more he had to play this stupid game and see Aria, the more he found himself growing fond of her. Her doe eyes had drawn him in from the start, and the more he got to know her, the more he started to see Alison, but the parts of Alison he liked. She was someone who knew what she wanted, but she was more docile, more subtly aggressive. She appreciated his poetry in a way rarely anyone ever did, and she really listened when he talked in a way rarely anyone ever did, and even though he wasn't really himself around her, he felt that he could be.

But did he love her? Was any of it real?

But as Ezra looked into Aria's doe eyes, the same doe eyes he had stared in many times before, he realized that she wasn't asking if any of it was real. She was asking if he _wanted_ it to be real, but soon he realized that she wasn't even asking _that_.

She was asking if he knew that she didn't want it to be real. She wanted him to love her the way she had loved him, but at the same time she didn't. He knew that he would confuse her if he were to tell her he had shared her feelings at least once, and at this point he wanted her to be free of the burden. He didn't deserve her, and she didn't deserve any of this.

"No," Ezra finally breathed, watching the knife stand still an inch away from his chest. Aria let out a shaky breath, the dark look in her face transmitting to one of pure hurt, pure betrayal, as she comprehended the promises he had broken, the happy ending that was never fulfilled.

That was the last thing he ever saw, for with that she plunged the knife deep into his heart.


	27. Chapter 27

**Wow, so I kinda can't believe this. Last chapter of this story. Whenever I finish up a story, I'm kinda left in a state of disbelief, especially for this one, because even though I snapped all of your hearts in half, you all (well... majority of you) took it insanely well. Thank you guys so much for reading my story, and now, for the last time, I'm going to reply to your reviews:**

**meels234: HOLY SHIT INDEED! But it doesn't quite end there, the girls need to discover the scene ;)  
eveningshades1107: Aaaaaand there was the reaction you promised me :D thanks again for proof reading it, there's no way this chapter would be posted without you. And yes, Ezra's train of thought is something I _really_ wanted to emphasize to tie into how conflicted he really is. Does he love her? Does he not? It doesn't matter, he just wants what is _best_ for her, and if him being out of the equation is what will assure that, then that's that. He could've told Aria everything right then and there about what Alison did to him, but he didn't. Why? Because she wanted to put an end to it, and he sacrificed himself to let her have that. Looks like our dearest Ezbian isn't so bad after all :)  
chiruri chikorate: I understand where you're coming from, which is why I _may_ consider doing a sequel for this, but not for a _while._ However, I think you'll find in this story that the girls have found a way to move on from these events. All four of them have found a way to move on from the people who have held them back - Hanna with Mona, Spencer with Toby, Aria with Ezra, and Emily with Alison - and in this last chapter, they find a way to close the lid on these events for good. However, a sequel definitely isn't out of the question if you're up for waiting a _long_ time for it :)  
NewEnglandMuggleGirl: I mean, it's _Aria_ and _Ezra_. You have to go all out with those two, meaning: heart stab. Thank you so much for your review :)  
missdallywinston: Oh, but I did, and she did, and _he_ did. All of that happened. I did warn you about the heartbreak! But thank you for reading/loving this story :)  
prettylittleliars39464: Thank you so much! I'm so glad you said it was realistic, because that's exactly what I was going for! And because of the authenticity aspect of it, there's no way this could end in a happy ending. Someone had to bite the dust. Thank you for being so understanding :)  
Ava B: Yes, the OT4 is SO married, that's why I found that line so hilarious. That episode was just fantastic in general. And intensity is what I was going for, so happy I could deliver! Wait until this next chapter ;)  
nick2951: Thank you so much! And I hope I managed to deliver with Vanderjesus since I told you I would :)  
Guest: Annnddd there it is. I've been waiting for a review like this since I knew it was coming. You're entitled to your own opinion, but I never said Aria was a psycho. She killed him as self defense, and to stop him from tormenting her friends. And as for Spencer and Toby, I said before that a major theme in this story is letting go, and that's Spencer's way of letting go. She was in a toxic relationship: one with trust issues, overdominance, and unsaid apologies, and she realized that this relationship was holding her back, so she broke it off so she could focus on her friends, and most importantly Aria who was _missing_ at the time. Say what you want, but I stick with my opinion about Spoby and I am happy with my decision to break them up. But if you're still unhappy about it, you can still see his gorgeous face on your TV screen every Tuesday, so there's that to cheer you up.  
Infinite Grace: Thank you for the review! Yeah, I doubt a lot of what happens here would be the case on the show, but I kinda wish some of it would. I mean, who _wouldn't_ want to see a final showdown between Aria and Ezra? Love them and all, but I doubt he loves her after all he's done. Although, have you heard the theory that he's actually an undercover cop? Hmm...  
ComeOnWe'reTeamSparia: Yes, she did. Haha, and no it's not horrible to not feel sympathy! They're two morally ambiguous characters who deserved what they got in the end, even if Ezra's was almost an act of heroism. And oh, Aria is going to be pretty shaken up, but at least now she and Emily can bond over the fact that they both "killed a guy" (referring to Cousin Nate, of course). Thank you so much for reading, it means a lot :)  
Prettylittleliarsfan1999: Haha, thank you! I think that's a common emotion going through most heads right now, so you're not alone!  
Lady Elena Dawson: Sorry! You were brave to stick to this story until the end, but I did warn you that it wouldn't be a happy ending! Still, Ezra did sacrifice himself for her! He's not all that bad :)  
TeamEmayaForever: I have to disagree with you there. I wrote this before the last episode, where Emily gives into Ali, so in my mind, Alison and Emily do not love each other. They care about each other to an extent, but I am not an Emison shipper simply because of everything Alison put Emily through. I do believe Alison feels bad about everything she did to Emily, but I think a large part of that is because of how it affected _her_. She doesn't love Emily, but she loves the fact that Emily loves _her_. And because Emily has toughened up since then, she sees through Ali's bullshit. Notice, she says "I _loved_ you, too." Past tense. But that's my opinion, and therefore that's how this story is going to go. Also, I _did_ warn you that I was going to snap your heart in half, so I don't want any complaints. You chose to go this far, therefore you are responsible for any of the shattered remains of your soul. Thanks for the review, though!  
ShadowsOnTheMoon: You're not going to get to this until much later, but when you're all caught up, I just want to say thank you for the influx of brilliant reviews, they made me smile :) sorry for any heartbreak that comes your way, and I will let you be the judge of who gets that crown in the end ;D**

**Okay, now for the last chapter. Remember, a huge part of this story is moving on and letting go, and that's what happens in this chapter. It may be unsatisfying to most, but it is absolutely realistic. Thank you all for joining me on this journey with these characters and their heartbreak, as well as yours. You all have been fabulous :) don't forget to leave any closing thoughts on this story! OH! And be on the lookout for a new story I'm working on, a future fic called _A Forgotten Past_. Description is in my profile! You guys are awesome, I'll see you all next time :)**

* * *

_You caused my heart to bleed and  
You still owe me a reason  
'Cause I can't figure out why  
Why I'm alone and freezing  
While you're in the bed that she's in  
And I'm just left alone to cry_

* * *

Aria hovered over Ezra's still frame, her entire body trembling as she realized what she had done. Ezra's skin had turned a pale gray as his breathing ceased completely and blood seeped out of his chest. Aria wanted to cry, but she found that she couldn't; she was breathing too hard, and could hardly produce any sound.

"Aria?" she heard someone call, but she was too weak to answer. She just sat on her knees by Ezra's body, enclosing her warm, sticky hands around his ice cold ones as she remembered all of the times they had shared, even if fake.

Some of the best times of her life. They were all gone now, as if she hadn't even been looking.

"Aria!" The next thing she heard was a door slam open, and when she gathered enough strength to look toward it, she saw Hanna and Spencer running over to her.

At the sight of her friends, Aria burst into tears, and Hanna and Spencer immediately rushed to her side. Spencer wrapped her long, lean arms around Aria's tiny frame, not caring about any blood that might stain her new sweater, and Hanna sat by her, hugging her as she stroked her hair comfortingly.

"Are you okay?" Spencer asked worriedly, before looking down at Ezra, taking in the full sight of his corpse and resisting the urge to gag. "Did... did he hurt you?"

Aria shook her head. "I... I wouldn't let him," she choked out between her sobs, and Spencer just held her even tighter while Hanna stared at Ezra, unable to take her eyes off of his pale, lifeless body sprawled across the ground.

"Hanna, stop," Spencer urged. "You're going to make yourself sick."

"I... I just can't believe it's over," Hanna choked out as she watched endless pools of red liquid trickle off of his hooded figure. Finally, Hanna procured tears of her own as she leaned into the embrace of her two other best friends.

The question was... where was the third?

Before Hanna could even finish that thought, Emily burst into the room, walking right past Ezra's body and jumping to Aria's side, encasing her in a hug along with the other girls as the tears continued to fall down the smaller girl's cheeks.

"It was so, so brave, what you just did," Emily said softly as she rubbed calming circles along Aria's back as she continued to choke on her own sobs.

Finally, Aria had calmed down enough to speak, and sniffled loudly as she separated herself from her friends and looked back down at Ezra. "No, it wasn't," she finally said, her voice surprisingly void of emotion. "I... I don't love him the way I used to, and that made it easier."

Emily lowered her head, thinking of the decision she had to make earlier, and realizing that Aria was right; finding out who Alison really was made walking away from her execution that much easier, just as it had for Aria with Ezra.

"Alison came up to me in the woods the day I found out," Aria blurted out, and the others stared at her in confusion.

A stray tear strolled down Aria's cheek as she explained. "She said it wasn't safe to come home, but that it would be if we stopped A once and for all," she said tearfully. "I had to kill him, I had to do it for Alison. I had to do justice for her."

"And you did," Spencer reassured as she pulled Aria close again, while Emily bit her lip in conflict. "You did, and now she can come home for all of us. This is finally over, okay?"

Aria nodded her head as she snuggled into Spencer's embrace, and Hanna joined in. It took a minute, but Emily finally joined in as well, pulling each of the girls into a tight, warm embrace, one that they all longed for after the past events.

Two years of getting closer together, of being wrenched apart, of going through hell and back, and here they were, circled around a bloodbath that had ended this trauma once and for all.

With the help of the others, Aria stood up from the ground on wobbly legs before looking around the lair. "It seems... smaller somehow," she said observantly.

Spencer followed her gaze, and then felt the same ping of surprise. "You're absolutely right," she said. "It... does."

"Guys, what do we do now?" Hanna asked bluntly, pointing to Ezra's bloody corpse. "Do we just leave him there?"

"_Hanna_!" Emily and Spencer scolded, but Aria held up a hand, indicating that it was alright.

"We should call the police," she said gravely as she fished into her pocket for her cellphone, only to realize she had left it at her house. "Let them know what happened, ask them to track down Cece and Mona."

"But Aria - "

"Guys, I don't care anymore," Aria said tiredly, and when the girls looked closely they noticed the dark, deep circles under her eyes again, the ones that had been developing even more strongly over the past few weeks. "I'm tired, and I want this thing over. As long as those two are in jail, they can do whatever they want to me, but all I want is to be able to sleep peacefully at night. The A team is over, and there's nothing they can do about it."

The three others stared at her, shocked that she was giving up so easily, but they soon realized that this wasn't Aria giving up; this was Aria knowing when she had won a battle, and not wanting to push it any further.

They were all tired.

"Then let's go," Emily said shortly, leading the way out the door, a huge weight lifted off of her shoulders, only to be replaced with an entirely new weight. The girls didn't know Alison had been killed, and as far as they knew she was out there, ready to come home. But she knew that once she gathered up the strength to tell them what had happened, they wouldn't want her to come home, just as much as she didn't.

But for right now, seeing Aria in the fragile state that she was in, she knew she'd have to keep that a secret for now. This whole thing had started because of Alison, and for her to be dead without knowing the truth almost seemed pointless, and the last thing Emily wanted was for Aria to think that her killing Ezra was pointless.

Everything - the A team, Alison's potential murder, all that they had gone through these past two years - had started because Alison had told the truth, and a very painful truth at that. It only seemed fitting that it be resolved with the opposite of truth: a lie.

The truth would come out soon enough, but only when it was time.

After all, you were always better off with a _really_ good lie.

_**~Fin~**_


	28. Author's Note

**Hi everyone.**

**So, after the response the ending of this story has gotten, I have officially decided that I am not quite ready for the black magic that goes into writing #DarkAsShadows stories. I'll leave that all to ****ShadowsOnTheMoon****, the ****_true_**** owner of the crown for darkest stories on Fanfiction. Like, seriously, if you want a true piece of art, peruse through all of her stories. But since some of you were not happy with the... well, ****_not_**** happy ending of this story, maybe you're not ready for her work... or maybe it's just that I'm new to this whole thing and it all sounds better coming from the fingers of a true professional... not sure. But that's what I wanted to talk to you all about.**

**I'm not asking you to love this story since I can't change your mind on your opinion on it, but I don't want you to leave thinking reading it was pointless. If I did that, I wouldn't be doing my job correctly (if I can call this a job... honestly, for now, this is just a good past time for me and something that I enjoy doing, so who cares about getting paid, which I most certainly am _not_). Most people come onto FanFiction for the happy, fluffy endings, but some of the writers on here are on here to get a feel for their writing style and to experiment with different genres to see how versatile they can be, to see how many risks they can take, to see how far they can push their readers while still making the story believable. That's what I was going for with this story. I don't find it right for people to complain about this story having a sad ending since I said from the first chapter that this was not going to be a cheerful story, but you guys pursued it to the end anyway, so that's on you. This may be only my opinion, but I felt that the plot that I had created was realistic. In my mind, there's no way now that Ezra and Aria can have a happy ending, so I didn't write them having a happy ending. I don't know how they're going to do it on the show, but in this story, their stars are crossed. Even if he does have an ounce of feelings for her, in his mind he viewed it as too late. He knew his actions couldn't be redeemed, so he decided that in order to end this once and for all for her, he would sacrifice himself for her, even if it meant her not knowing the whole story. In his mind, he was doing the right thing for her, and in her mind, she had done Alison justice by ending his life.**

**Another issue that people had was the fact that Emily kept both Ezra's backstory and Alison's murder a secret, which in their eyes meant a lack of resolution. I disagree with this. Take into account the last line of this story: this entire thing started because Alison told the truth to the wrong person at the wrong time, and it is ending because of a ****_lie_****, because, let's face it, that's what this entire show is about. And I don't care what the show says: in my mind, Emily and Alison's relationship is not a healthy one. And the fact that Emily was finally able to recognize that at the end of this story while Alison is being held at gunpoint shows so much growth for her character, whereas in the last episode, that character growth was put to waste the minute she met face to face with Alison, turning back into season 1 Emily at the flip of a light switch. If you want more on why I don't think they're relationship is healthy, check out this tumblr post. It really opened my eyes: aurghhh . tumblr post/74376587560/im-suss-about-ali-again**

**And as for the last chapter and the so called lack of resolution, maybe you're right. I'm not perfect, so maybe that is true. But if you look at eveningshades1107's final review for the last chapter, you might find that this is not the case. Go give it a read, because 1) she is one of my favorite humans of all time, and 2) she basically hit right on the head everything that I was trying to convey with this story, and _especially_ with the ending of this story. First of all, after everything that Alison put the girls through, do you really think they'd want her to be alive after all of this? And second of all, sometimes, ambiguity can be a powerful tool, and the best example I can give is Ernest Hemingway, the KING of ambiguity. His writing was 10% on the surface, and 90% under the water, like an iceberg, because he believed the true meaning of a piece should be up to the reader to decide, meaning no one could go wrong with any basic theories about it. To an extent - although maybe to a lesser extent so that my writing doesn't come off as that of a middle schooler the way Hemingway's occasionally can - that is what I was going for with this ending. I wanted to tie it off, but I also wanted to leave it out in the open for you to speculate where else it could go, where the Liars would end up, what would happen after Cece and Mona were arrested, what would the girls' reaction be when Emily finally gained the nerve to tell them about what Alison did to Ezra, as well as Alison's death, and so on and so forth.**

**I guess what I'm trying to say is that not all stories are going to have the full resolution that you're looking for, and sometimes you have to make up the rest of the story once the writing comes to a stop. But that's life, and I'm all about realism, so that's how I'm going to keep writing. Thank you all for your criticisms, both positive and negative, because while the negative can sting, I really do appreciate it all the same because that means you took the time to read my story and give it thought. Also, if I do want to consider writing as a career option, I'll have to get used to constructive criticism, but I just needed to get that off of my chest. I am not too certain about a sequel right now, and it is looking less and less likely considering everything I just said about ambiguity, but keep a lookout for me and any future works I might have. I can tell you that the current story that I am working on will have an ending that is _far_ nicer than this one, so you have that to look forward to, but once again, thank you so much for reading this story and joining me on this journey of exploring myself further as a writer. I am sorry for making you read all of that, but if you are reading this, then you are at the end of it all, and you're awesome. If you have any further questions, do not hesitate to PM me. See you all next time :P**


End file.
